Teddy Bears
by D.C.1
Summary: Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi. Sequel to Plastic Ponies.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**

I don't own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

The first chapter of the sequel of Plastic Ponies. If you haven't read the prequel to this story, please do. If you don't, well, most of this story won't make sense until chapter five, and even then you'll be a little confused.

It feels good to be writing again and I hope you guys all like this story. Of course, there might be a little bit of Kakashi x Iruka hinted throughout this story, but I don't know how far it's going to go, as usual.

Enjoy.

* * *

It was a beautiful day in Konohagakure, which was unusual since winter was only a few days in coming. The leaves were almost gone from the trees, except for a few stubborn ones, and a brisk, cold wind often blew around the village. 

This was the first week that Hatake Kakashi had completed fully in the village, having recently been on scores of missions, one after the other involving the assassination of someone of great importance, and the men who had attacked him afterwards, then suddenly back to the job of torturing, ahem, training his students. Normally he would enjoy listening to an older Naruto screaming, Sasuke coolly retorting and Sakura fretting over both. But this day was different. His thoughts were returning to a time four years ago.

_'How could he forget?'_ Kakashi's mind screamed a question that had plagued him for years as he watched his students complete a D-ranked mission. _'I had to watch him for a week, make sure he didn't kill himself, and he doesn't even remember it!'_ His thoughts continued to race, even after Naruto found the rabbit and began to jump up and down in victory. He nodded at the blonde, ignoring him in reality.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you okay?" Sakura asked, holding onto the puppy in her arms. Always the perceptive one, even way back, she knew that something was eating at her teacher. It seemed she was right. This was typical with her having been one of the top students of her class.

Naruto cursed when the rabbit bit him and raced off, only to be caught by Sasuke. "Yeah, you look angry." He said while glaring at the Uchiha, sucking on the small wound that was trickling blood. "What's going on?" He asked, sticking his tongue out at the rabbit when it sniffed at his pant's leg.

The jounin smiled at the children in front of him, jumping off the high branch to land in front of them. "Nothing." He replied easily, patting Naruto on the head, earning a grunt from the sixteen year old. "You better return those animals to their owners. I'll see you back in the mission room." And with a poof of murky smoke the man was gone, leaving behind his confused students.

Sakura pouted and pulled the small animal closer to her chest, as if to take comfort from the warmth, before beginning to walk back into town. She nodded thoughtfully and began to talk, knowing that Naruto and Sasuke would be listening, "Kakashi-sensei has changed, ya know? Ever since...

"It's as if he's always thinking about something else…" She trailed off, sighing as they walked past the village barrier. She shrugged slightly to get rid of the strand of pink hair that fell into her eyes since she was still holding the puppy.

The trio was quiet as they walked towards the mission room, two of them holding the animals that they were charged with finding for their owners. None of them tried to break the silence that had fallen, thinking about the strange, almost distant, manner that their teacher had adopted in the last few days.

Naruto sighed, opening the door since he was the only who wasn't carrying an animal. Inside, and after Sasuke tossed the rabbit at the blonde, they continued on their way to the bustling room at the end of the hall.

The mission room, as usual, was in complete panic when the door swung open. Chunin's and other ninja ran around the room, some with arms filled with papers and the rest were scrambling after the first picking up the leaves of paper that flew from the other's arms.

Suddenly, there was a lull in the erratic traffic; a moment of unaccounted for organization, and the three genin took this chance to dash across the room to the one who assigned them the mission. It was fairly simple the mission that had been assigned to them, but then again, a lot of the higher level missions were being sucked up by bored ANBU's and jounin's who weren't assigned to a group for training.

The man at the desk looked up when Naruto slammed into the surface, tripping over his own two feet to try and avoid hurting the rabbit in his arms, taking the brunt of the hit. A pair of eyes brightened slightly at the sight of the three children, reflecting the smile that tugged at the corners of the mouth.

"I take it the mission was a success?" Iruka asked, setting aside his paperwork to save the bunny from becoming squeezed too hard in Naruto's arms. Immediately after being released from the boy, the rabbit relaxed in the sensei's presence.

The chunin chuckled softly and stroked at the dark fur, allowing the animal to nuzzle his hand. "Well, I see you have the pets, but where's Kakashi-san?" Iruka asked, tilting his head so he could see his three past students.

"He left right after we finished the mission." Sakura supplied in a quiet voice, barely heard over the hum of the mission room. She placed the puppy on the ground, trusting it to not wander out of the room.

Iruka stopped his patting for a moment, concentrating on the melancholy girl standing in front of him. Before he could ask what was wrong, and there was always something wrong when it involved ninja girls, especially when they reached sweet sixteen, a folder flew onto his desk.

Looking up to see who would hand in a mission report like this, Iruka felt his eyes widen as Kakashi walked slowly into the room. The tall man wove in and out of the organized chaos easily, hands still in his pockets, sidestepping a woman who was chasing after a genin. He stopped when he was easily within reach of the chunin from his desk, placing his hand on the folder.

Usually the elusive ninja waited until night or early morning to hand in his reports. More closely analyzed, the jounin only wandered into the normally busy building when the mission room was almost dead with no one around. And a certain academy teacher was off duty.

"We've finished the mission as required, Umino-san." Kakashi said, lifting his hand and trailing it away from the report. He turned his head to the side, as if hearing something from far away. The jounin nodded, stepping away from his students and the teacher from their past, moving towards the hallway that led to the office of the new hokage.

Sakura followed the man with her eyes, feeling the hard lump of emotion lodged in her chest. She sighed, looking down at the puppy that was huddled against her leg, quivering in fear from the noise around it. She bent and picked it up, hugging it hard against her torso as if to squash the strange feeling.

The blonde snorted out his nose and jumped onto the desk, sitting on the smooth surface in the other direction to follow the retreating back of his teacher. "See, Iruka-sensei?" He crossed his arms and glared over at the brown haired man, as if blaming him, "He's been like this all week!" Naruto heaved a huge sigh.

Iruka shrugged, handing the rabbit to Sasuke, who blinked at the animal in strange fear, so that he would be able to take hold of the report. "Well, Naruto, he might just be going through a growth spurt in maturity." He replied easily, flipping open the sealed folder to find the details.

He blinked as he read over the paper, realizing that the document in front of him was possibly the most boring report ever written. Not what Kakashi usually handed in for him to review. The chunin stared blankly at the papers, thinking back to what the infamous copy-nin had handed in three months ago to a new chunin when he returned from a class S, promptly going on his newly assigned mission.

The girl still burst into tears every time she had to work in the mission room.

Iruka shivered at the memory, remembering the doodles that covered every inch of the margins, having had to file some of the reports himself. The vague descriptions of enemies and their attack patterns used against him in battle. Expressive reviews concerning the restaurant stands that he stopped at along the way and back again.

No, this blank sounding, and looking, report was much better than what Iruka was used to. _'But it still seems a little bland for something Kakashi-san would write…'_ The chunin shook his head and smiled at his past students. "So, how have your missions been?" He asked, moving the folder over into a pile of reports that had to be filed.

"Alright." Naruto sighed, taking the rabbit from Sasuke, who was looking a little sick, maybe allergies. He smiled and stroked the animal's fur, unaware of how un-Naruto like he looked at the moment. "Except Kakashi-sensei has been a little weird since he had to do that mission."

"Well, Naruto, he just came back from a very dangerous mission, so of course it's going to take him a while to get back into the swing of things. Listen, if it makes you feel better, he's not scheduled for any missions for the next month and a half." Iruka asked, looking through his books with a sigh.

Blue eyes regarded the chunin sensei, widening for a moment before becoming sad. "Oh yeah… Kakashi-sensei came back from his mission. That must be why..." Naruto commented slowly, looking at his teammates with a confused shrug, not knowing what to say to someone who didn't remember.

"Yeah, that has to be it!" Sakura said enthusiastically, hugging the puppy close. "I mean, why else would Kakashi-sensei be so droopy? He must be tired." She smiled, nodding her head with a sudden found vigor. "I think we should get the animals back to their owners, right?"

Sasuke nodded, grabbing Naruto's arm. "Yes." He smiled, more of a twitch of the lips, and led the blonde out the mission room and the chaos that surrounded it.

The pink haired girl watched as the two males walked off, patting the dog in a distracted way. She'd return her pet in a little bit; maybe wait to see if Iruka-sensei would suddenly remember what had happened to him a few years ago. When she turned, the chunin was staring oddly at where Naruto had last been. "What's wrong, sensei?"

"What's going on with Naruto and Sasuke?" Iruka asked, his eyes slowly widening as his mind went into overdrive to try and understand everything placed before him. "And did I just see Sasuke, smile?" His brow furrowed as he thought over the wrong sounding statement.

The Uchiha had never smiled in his presence before. Well, once. But that was founded purely by instinct and a deep rooted pleasure at seeing Neji getting attacked by a flock of birds when a ball of bird seed 'mysteriously' found its way into the pale eyed male's backpack. A connection between the seed and Sasuke had never been found.

Sakura gave a little sigh, toying with the dog's ears after placing it on the desk so it could relax slightly. "I think they're in love." She smiled, turning to the door that her teammates had just walked through. "Yeah…that seems about right." The girl pushed back a strand of pale hair that had fallen in front of her eyes and turned back to her past teacher, who was in the same position she had left him in.

"W-w-when did this happen?" Iruka sputtered, reaching over to pull Sakura across his desk so that none of the other workers in the mission room could hear what was being discussed. "How did this happen!" He asked when Sakura looked at him with a blank look.

She shrugged, looking over at the door, wishing she could walk out of it instead of trying to explain this to Iruka without getting in some sort of trouble. "It was a few years ago when you were…Actually, it was when Kakashi-sensei had to watch…No…" She huffed and crossed her arms, trying to think of a way out of this new found predicament.

"It was at a party!" Sakura exclaimed, going with the barest of facts at the moment, "Naruto found Sasuke, who was drunk, and then they…Not that that was the reason!" She drifted off, realizing what she just said, and glanced at the older man sitting next to her, not surprised at seeing a vein throbbing slightly near his temple and on his neck. "Um, Iruka-sensei, maybe you should ask Naruto yourself. They've been together for a long time. You just haven't...noticed."

The pink-haired girl moved from behind the desk and grabbed the puppy off the piece of furniture, which was looking down at the ground with a calculating glance, and jogged over to the door. "Don't worry, Iruka-sensei!" She said suddenly, turning back to wave with one hand, "Everything will make sense!"

As Sakura moved out the door she quietly added to herself, "If you ever find out what happened…"

* * *

"Kakashi, I am sure you are wondering why it is I summoned you here." Tsunade questioned the jounin standing in back of her, looking out the large window behind her desk. After a few moments of watching the village's inhabitants pursue their lives, she turned to the much younger man. "Are you?" 

Bored eyes trained on the wall behind the voluptuous figure. "I'm not quite sure, Hokage-sama." The jounin said, voice monotone. "My last mission was a success. The kids are doing fine, though hormones are running wild. Winter is almost here so the winter treaties will soon be in effect. Birds are flocking and bears are going to sleep, children are sharpening ice skates-"

A snort from the woman brought Kakashi back from his rambles, forcing him to focus his eye on Tsunade, albeit a little lazily. "I know what the weather is and what it results in." She stated, crossing her arms over her chest, "And I believe I understand what is going on in the village that I must guard.

"What I don't understand, though, Kakashi, is you."

On the blonde's desk was an envelope, looking vaguely familiar the jounin sitting down. "Graduated from the academy at six. Youngest jounin at only thirteen." Tsunade recited from memory, "Only person not from the Uchiha clan to have sharigan vision. You are one in a million." The hokage nodded.

"But it says in your file that you've never had anyone," Tsunade held up her pinky, wiggling it provocatively, "To call your own, ne?"

Her eyes studied the man for a moment, taking in his nonchalance that suddenly seemed forced before lowering her gaze slyly back to the window to watch a pink haired girl walk out the door directly below her office, wondering if Kakashi could feel his student's specific chakra signature. He was always good at recognizing the chakra of others. "Of course," She spoke to the glass, "We are going to have to fix that."

Turning away from the window, and pushing those thought out of her mind, the hokage studied one of the greatest ninja ever from Konohagakure.

"What I don't understand is how you don't have women throwing themselves at you." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully with her hand, looking over the seated male. Good looks, well, good eye; add that to a nice eyebrow... The hokage felt her own eyebrow tick in annoyance.

'_He has to have a good body, all ninja did. Well, except the Akimichi family. But not all ninja were like that.'_ She tapped thoughtfully on her chin,_ 'Stay at home mothers somehow stayed in shape even though they didn't go on any missions anymore. Hell, even the academy teachers, like Iruka-sensei, were still in good shape.'_

Tsunade brightened considerably, thinking about the academy teacher that was known around the village. _'Iruka-sensei! He was a good guy who knew everyone. He would surely be able to find one brooding person a perfect match!'_ She struggled to think of a woman who would interest the copy-nin, finally hitting on it,_ 'Maybe another brooding, one-eyed woman who had hair that defied gravity?'_

Kakashi stared bleakly at the leader of his village as she chortled deeply, her fingers tenting in front of her. It was times like this when he considered becoming a missing-nin.

"I have a special mission for you to deliver, Kakashi." Tsunade stated, grabbing a pen a quickly jotting down a message on a crumbled piece of paper. "I want you to bring this message to the academy and give it Umino-sensei."

She then folded her paper into the shape of a triangle, the book _'Origami for Beginners'_ hadn't agreed with her, and flicked it to the jounin. "I'm sure he has a lesson or class or whatever right now. I give you permission to invade his class, if you will, and give this to him.

"You have to stay to hear his answer, which will probably be yes, but just in case." Tsunade moved away from her desk to watch some people leave the building, looking for a late lunch. "This is all for your own good, Kakashi." She stated happily when she heard a groan, turning to smile at a cloud of smoke.

* * *

Kakashi stood outside the academy, cursing the hokage, as he noticed that all the children in the village were still in the midst of afternoon lessons. Of course, it's his luck to actually be on time. Or was he late? He was supposed to bring in his report later. 

The jounin nodded with understanding, finally remembering a crucial piece to this puzzle: The report he had handed in was from his last mission, not of the one that was completed today. With a mental sigh, Kakashi slouched over and ambled into the building.

And then he was promptly run into by a child.

With a muted 'off', and bouncing slightly after the fall, the pale eyed girl glared up from her prone position on the floor. Kakashi stared down at her, boredom radiating from his persona, wondering how a girl being trained to be a ninja wouldn't notice his slightly taller than normal figure. It didn't help when the girl unexpectedly burst into tears, startling the jounin into pulling his hand out of his pocket in self defense.

"Why are you so mean to me? You don't have to shove the fact you can make doppelgangers into my face!" She paused to take a huge breath, "And you didn't have to scare me by turning into a scary jounin!" The girl wailed, taking her hand to rub furiously at her eyes. "And why'd you choose him? He's the scariest, besides the green one."

She sniffed again, a few stray tears being squeezed from her eyes, looking up at the immobile Kakashi. "Just change back already. It's not funny." The girl grumbled.

Kakashi arched an eyebrow when no teacher came out from their classrooms to see what the disturbance was, looking down at the dark haired girl for a moment before squatting to be even with her suddenly wide eyes. "Ma, do you know where Umino-sensei's class is?"

The girl snuffled slightly, swallowed and hoisted herself to her feet. "You're not Suke?" She said haltingly, afraid to trust the figure. Without waiting for an answer she grabbed his flax jacket and tugged on it gently, "You seem real." The genin grumbled, chewing on her bottom lip as she tried to understand why a jounin would occupy his time by coming to the academy.

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, finding the child endearing. Sometimes he wished his team of new teenagers would forget about everything that had happened to the village in the past years and go back to being gullible children. "I should hope." He ruffled the girl's hair.

"You want to help me with a super important mission from the hokage?" He asked, crouching down and whispering conspiratorially to her so if anyone passed they wouldn't know what they were talking about.

The girl squirmed, unsure, but then smiled and nodded, grabbing the older man's hand. "I'm Umi. I'm in Iruka-sensei's class right now! Come with me." She smiled; tears vanished from her face, and began to pull the jounin with her down the hallway.

Kakashi followed the girl as she skipped down the halls, bent over slightly as to not lift the little child off the ground, all the while wondering when he had seen her before. Déjà vu was something that had never affected the jounin really, but now every time he looked at her he got that strange feeling.

Maybe it was something he ate on one of his last missions.

"Now remember, a ninja is supposed to be aware of everything surrounding them." Iruka stated as the door opened, his head turning to glance at his student only to snap back to look again when he noticed the lazy stance of a certain jounin, who had been acting very strange only this morning.

The children all gasped at once when they saw the stature of one of the greatest ninja of Konoha's history, besides the hokages', inside their classroom. A turbulent of whispers broke out as Kakashi walked across the small distance in the lecture hall to reach Iruka.

"Hey, it's that guy who's really late all the time! Isn't he dreamy?"

"I know! I can't wait to tell mommy, she won't believe me..."

"My sister thinks he's really hot, don't you?"

"What his eyeball? You can't see the other eighty percent of his face!"

Before the other man could ask what he was doing here, a slightly confused look dawning on his tan features, Kakashi pressed the slip of paper into the academy teacher's hand and tilted his head to mutter in his ear, "Tsunade wanted you to have this", before making a few hand seals and disappearing, the sounds of awe from the children left in his wake from the miniature display of what they would, hopefully, be able to do one day.

Iruka opened the note and read the message, letting his class go into disarray, only looking up when one of his louder boys, most likely Konohamaru, yelled out, "Iruka-sensei, are you going on a dangerous mission to help save the village?" This was quickly followed by the stranger, scarier to the sensei, questions from the girls:

"Is he single?"

"Did you see his face, ever? Is it debonair?"

And lastly, "Iruka-sensei! Jin says he's ugly, but I think Hatake-sama is a fine-looking specimen of male meat. What do you think?"

"It's time to continue with the lesson." He clapped his hands, beginning to wonder why the girls grew up faster than the boys, "Laura, I don't want to hear that type of language this early in your life, you will have detention with Jin. You will see Akane-sensei after school." He replied easily, making a mental note to go talk to the woman hokage the minute he was finished with these lessons. Sometimes he wondered what she was thinking.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Love it? Hate it?

Please, let me know. Just click that purple button in the corner and tell me if I should continue.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Wow. I didn't think you guys were going to like this story so much! I am pleasantly surprised!

Also, a first for me, I am going to _try_ and be punctual with my next chapters. There will be two weeks in between each chapter. If I don't finish and post the next chapter in this time frame, I give you all permission to kill me.

* * *

Iruka sighed as he exited the academy, earning a pat on the back from one of the older teachers who believed him to be engaged in three different affairs with two women and a man. First he would go home, maybe grab a bite to eat, then he would go see Tsunade before he went to the mission room.

_'That sounds good, now all I need to do is get rid of Kakashi-san.'_ He thought darkly, ignoring the jounin who was resolutely reading his...porno.

First he had ignored the man, hoping he would realize the error of his ways and rush off to some escapade with Asuma. After that, he cleared his throat every time he turned and found the older nin strolling casually next to him. When he was offered a lozenge for his ailing vocal cords, Iruka decided then and there that he hated the jounin.

But then again, the direct route was sometimes the only way to get through to people. "Why are you following me, Kakashi-san?" Iruka grumbled, running his free hand down his face, the other was holding the groceries that he had picked up. Another tactic Iruka had used which had no effect against the jounin.

It seemed Kakashi was not fazed by old women trying to force food onto the "skinny, still growing, looking quite sick for his age, maybe a tapeworm? He does so much for our village, jounin."

"Hmm?" He glanced up from the orange covered novel while his head turned back slightly so he could glance at the chunin who had stopped walking. Iruka had to force his body not to shiver as the cold, grayish eye of an assassin stared at him for a moment. He watched the frigidness dissolve into the curved arch of a hidden smile.

Kakashi stopped, shoving his book into a pocket, rubbing at the back of his head in a boyish fashion, "Maa, the hokage told me to wait for your response." He stated quite simply, ignoring the tightening of the teacher's jaw. "I don't think she wants you to come see her personally, Iruka-sensei."

"Of course she doesn't!" Iruka threw up his hands, striding past the jounin with a faster pace, his bags bouncing dangerously at his side, "She makes me worry myself to death when you wander in, thinking something might be wrong with Naruto, you disturb my class on top of it and then I had to give two girls detention, and she doesn't even want me to tell her my answer to her stupid question!" He hit himself on the forehead with the flat of his hand, muttering as he turned down his road.

"Well, she can do that." Kakashi replied happily, ignoring the withering glare sent at him. "It is part of her powers...as...hokage." He paused and chewed thoughtfully on the piece of the apple he had just taken a bite of, eyes raising to the sky in thought, perhaps beginning to dread his decision to stick to the man like glue.

Iruka stared at the jounin for a second before shuffling through his bags with one hand. With a glare, his cheeks puffing up, he exhaled through his nose. "Kakashi-san, please do not steal my apples."

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask, "I only see that which is underneath the underneath." This statement was finished with another bite of the apple mysteriously disappearing in a blurred motion.

"Just...no, don't eat my apples. Even if they are underneath my eggs."

The jounin shrugged and didn't push the subject, content to simply tag along with the sensei until he most likely dragged him off to the hokage. This ultimately led him to the doorstep of the same little apartment/house that Iruka had always lived in, a place that he was very familiar with.

Unlocking to door and pushing it open with one hand was no mean feat, but then unfastening his sandals and getting them off without bending over, while also putting them in their proper slot. Let's just say that Kakashi was very impressed with what Iruka could do with one hand.

This led to lecherous thoughts.

"Are you _blushing_, Kakashi-san?" Iruka asked, incredulous at the spray of pink that was just visible over the edge of the dark mask, an effective contrast to the man's pale skin. He had never seen anything except cool anger, indifference, phony smiles, and an occasional, though very rare, real smile on the jounin's face. Iruka didn't think he had actual emotions like the rest of the people living in Konohagakure.

"Are you blushing, Iruka-sensei?" As always, a very modern response issued from the copy ninja.

Indeed, Iruka was blushing, but that was only because the jounin had suddenly moved close enough for him to discern the thin outline ofa grinning pair of lips. "N-no." Iruka stuttered, holding his groceries up as a physical barrier between the man and himself. Luckily, he was saved by the most unlikely source.

"MROW! MEOW! ROWRG! GROWG!"

The chunin looked down at his feet, sighing mentally in relief when he saw the light orange cat twining itself around his legs. "Hello, Tootsie-chan. Were you a good girl today?" The cat looked up, eyes wide and incredulous before suddenly darting off to a pair of food bowls, sitting abruptly down next to her feeding station and licking her back leg.

Iruka dropped his groceries on the counter, grabbed a can of cat foodand quickly emptied it into the small plastic bowl. "There you go, pretty kitty." He said happily, running a hand down the smaller than normal back, laughing quietly when the cat didn't move from eating.

Turning, and still seeing the gray-haired man in his home, Iruka blushed lightly and stepped away from his cat, ignoring the scrutinizing look aimed towards him. "Um...Kakashi-san, I'm going to go check up on something and then go to the mission room, so you can leave."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, "I thought you were going to go to see the hokage and yell at her about your mission?" He smiled sardonically behind his mask, watching the tan face flush again before the man bowed, horrified at his blunt speech. "I was looking forward to watching the sparks fly."

"Could you _please_ just go, Hatake-san?" Iruka pleaded, beginning to push the jounin out of his house when the man didn't move. "I have some work to do before I go, and you aren't helping!" He was almost to the door! Kakashi was finally going to be out of his hair for the day!

"Bye, Iruka-sensei. Farwell, noroi-neko." And with this parting, though quite strange, the ninja vanished through the door.

With a huff, Iruka slammed the door and leaned against it. "How dare he say that? Tootsie-chan is not-" He stopped when he noticed that his pet had stopped eating and was staring at the doorway while licking her lips, eyes focused on the doorknob.

"Tootsie-chan, I don't think he meant it." At the mention of her name, the cat resumed eating.

* * *

Kakashi sighed as he threw his apple core into a garbage bin outside the building where the hokage was waiting. He didn't want to go in there, it was just after her late lunch and she liked picking on people around then, but he didn't have anywhere else to go. With a resolute shrug the jounin wandered into the building.

Receiving a terse nod from Genma before he walked in, Kakashi took that as an all right for Tsunade to be approached, just be cautious. Maybe she had something healthy, like bean curd, instead of her usual three cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshake? Kakashi shuddered, '_How can she even eat all that?'_

"Kakashi, did you get Iruka-sensei's response?" The hokage asked as she balanced a pencil on her upper lip, concentrating on the more daunting task set before her. "Did he say yes?" She asked, not really paying attention, since she was sure the chunin would listen to her summons. She was the hokage, after all.

The gray haired man shifted, hand going into his pocket to withdraw his favorite reading material as he reported. Licking his thumb to turn the page, ignoring the strange taste of sulfur, he drawled out, "Iruka-sensei decided that he wanted to come see you to tell you his," Another page turned, this one had illustrations! "Carefully constructed withdrawal to a mission you most likely have him tied into."

Tsunade slumped onto her desk, "What did you say?" She ground out, blazing eyes narrowing menacingly. "How dare he treat me like this?" The hokage abruptly stood up, pounding the flat of her fist into her palm, coming to a decision that had to do with Iruka. "I'm going to show him a piece of my mind and then I-"

As she threatened the imaginary chunin who was standing directly in front of her, Shizune rushed in, holding Tonton loosely in her arms. "I can't get her to leave me alone! Hokage-sama!" She yelled, ignoring the painful squeals coming from the plump swine that was struggling to release itself from the black haired woman.

"Choke him with my bare hands! Give him something to say no to!" Now the blonde woman had her hands wrapped around the neck of a see-through Iruka created from a little bit of chakra, shaking it violently back and forth with a murderous gleam in her eyes, "Ha, that'll show him whose boss! Yeah, and-"

"Hokage-sama, please listen to me!" Shizune pleaded, blowing upwards to get her bangs out of her eyes, noticing that the ranting woman hadn't paid attention to a word she had said. "Your pig wants something and she keeps somehow getting up on my desk, scattering all my papers and I can't get my work done if you keep-"

"Puking up his breakfast, then I'll make him eat it and do it again!" Tsunade cackled deviously, aware that it wasn't sane to think about torturing someone you knew personally. "Ibiki can help! He's really good at-"

"Sniffling everything and chewing on my documents! My work! I can't deal with this stuff this late in the day! You should be doing work, not having fun toying with the jounin and chunin!" With a final sigh, the woman lifted the pig up and dropped it unceremoniously on the hokage's desk, ignoring the confused look that was aimed at her as she stomped out the room and back to the paperwork that Tsunade was too lazy to finish herself.

Choosing to disregard the entire conversation, he hadn't really paid attention since the big-breasted heroine was meeting up with the rugged pirate king, Kakashi flipped another page. "Ma, hokage-sama, I finished with your assignment, is there anything else?" He also decided to ignore the pig that rolled off the desk and came snuffling over to him.

"..." Tsunade's jaw worked up and down as she stared at the stoic man standing in her office, not quite remembering when he had come in. Was it before she finished her triple sundae, or after she made Raido cry after making fun of his sun-peeling nose?

Kakashi turned and wandered out the office, nose still buried in his literature, only to be called out of his fantasy world of unlaced corsets by Tsunade's sudden exclamation of a quite elegant, "SHIT!"

He let his eye settle on the woman, hand still touching the doorknob, following her as she hurried back to her chair, shuffling through a massive pile of papers. "Hokage-sama, you have more work than usual, and Shizune will be trying to kill you again in," He glanced at the large clock on the wall, "five minutes."

Tsunade huffed, "This has to do with you, Kakashi!" She gestured to the piles of paper in front of her, "These are all of the missions you ever had to do and I was trying to organize them into a smaller folder." She lifted out a scrap of paper, which was tainted by a brownish mixture of blood and something else, maybe mud, "And somehow make them into actual reports.

"But as I was doing my work, I can across this." She pulled out an envelope that was sealed in a different type of handwriting, a basis description on the front. "Documented by Sandaime-sama, something about a mistake you made." Tsunade commented idly, "That's what made me open it and actually read it, not just copy the words inside it."

Kakashi stiffened as he watched the current hokage's lips move as she looked over the words, his hand stuffing his book into his pocket, kicking Tonton out of the way as he strode over. "Hokage-sama, you shouldn't read reports not written by you." He said as he flipped open the report that he had never seen before, thumbing through the pages.

She looked up at the jounin for a moment, eyes alighting for a moment before the light was repressed. "Kakashi, I need you to...take Tonton for a walk!" Tsunade hefted up her pig, who was about to bite the copy ninja, and thrust her into his arms. "Come back after she eats some grass, she hasn't been feeling too well that last few days."

Then, with a large smile that hurt her face, the Gondaime shoved Kakashi out of her office, shutting it with a bang. _'This is just what he needs! It'll help him relax for a couple of days, but I just need to change that formula.'_ She rubbed her hands together gleefully as she moved back to her desk, the report of Kakashi babysitting Iruka for a week underneath her arm.

_'I can't have him growing up and acting rude now, can I?'_

* * *

Kakashi growled at the pig when she stopped to sniff at another patch of grass, his mind churning. Sandaime was not supposed to write a report about what had happened so long ago.

It was meant as a type of retribution for making Iruka drink the vial in the first place. He had found it in Sandaime's cabinet, who would have thought the past hokage would have something like that lying around in his liquor store?

Glancing around, the jounin noted that the sun had almost set and he tugged at the leash attached around Tonton's neck. "Stupid pig, get moving." Kakashi shut up when the 'stupid pig' promptly bit him on the ankle.

After another fifteen minutes of aimless wandering, they passed the same tree four times, Kakashi tugged at the leash again at Tsunade's pet pig followed docilely. Kakashi nodded and walked down the street and made it back to the hokage's office than it had taken in leaving. It was much easier when the pig was walking and you weren't forced to carry it while your fellow ninja laughed at your new S-class mission.

"Your pig is back." Kakashi mumbled out monotone, dropping the leash and turning to walk out to find Tsunade pressed against the door behind him, the insane smile plastered back onto her face.

"Stay a while, Kakashi! Have a seat!" He couldn't refuse with her hand in the small of his back, forcing him into a chair in front of the now impeccably clean desk. That should have sent alarms off in his head, but he was so tired out from this day he just wanted to go to sleep and wait for his next mission that was due in a week and a few days.

"You want some coffee? Tea?" At the mention of it, Tsunade suddenly whipped out a pair of cups and they were both filled to the brim. "It'll help you...relax." She smiled as Kakashi lifted the cup to his face, quickly taking a sip without her seeing the face even with all of her training.

"So, what happened on that mission a couple of years back?" She flipped open the folder that, magically, appeared in her hands. "Four. That does seem a little long for this mission to never have been reviewed." Tsunade flipped the pages agonizingly slow, watching Kakashi from underneath her eyelashes as the man stiffly put the cup back onto the desk.

The jounin being questioned sighed and rubbed his finger lightly over a hole in his pants, the material bending and fraying under the sudden care. "It's noting important." He ground out, his tone betraying the fury underneath his calm exterior.

"Ah. But you were taking care of Konoha's favorite sensei! You must have learned something about yourself!" Tsunade took a long sip of her own coffee, the four cubes of sugar and the milk having diffused enough. "That you should never settle down and have children? Or that you have the hots for teachers?"

Kakashi looked up, grabbed his cup and downed the entire scalding liquid. "This is a very nice blend." He said, setting it back down as he stood, "But I have to go, hokage-sama. I have to run some errands and Iruka-sensei will be getting here soon to chew off your ear."

"You don't want to meet your future love?" Tsunade grinned wider when Kakashi stopped abruptly and flipped her the finger, before turning back to his escape route, "Besides, what if you can't reach the doorknob?"

The jounin looked back for a moment, the strange emotion of uncertainty shining in his eye as he glanced back. Taking one step towards the door, the infamous copy ninja crashed to the floor as darkness overcame him, a flash of despair hitting him in the gut. He should have known she was going to do this!

Tsunade looked down at him, taking another sip of her own tea. "He should have known I was going to do this." She sighed, shaking her head at the thirty year old jounin, setting down a saucer of tea on the ground for Tonton, patting the smooth back as the pig snorted happily at her treat.

* * *

Naruto growled as he ran down the street, leaving Sasuke back at his house. Of all time's for the grandma to call for him! "This had better be good." He muttered, running up the stairs to her office, barely avoiding the people in the hallways.

"Making me leave Sasuke like that..." His eyes glazed over for a moment as he thought back to the activities that had been happening at his house, almost running into the wall, only to be stopped when a hand grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back into a warm chest.

"Don't want you to break your nose, baka." Sasuke breathed into Naruto's ear, earning an elbow into the stomach from the blonde accompanied by a bright blush as Naruto continued to run towards the hokage's room. He was sure it was this way. He didn't remember all of these corners, but he was surely getting closer.

With a quick shove at a passing chunin, sending the papers she was holding flying, Naruto rounded a corner, sighing with relief when he recognized the door. "Oi, Sasuke, I found the room." Grabbing the pale boy's hand, he proceeded to drag him towards Tsunade's office.

Sasuke pulled back, stopping their movement when the wail of a child came from the other side of the doors. "Naru, why did the Hokage summon you?" The uncertainty in his voice coupled with his nickname for the otherteen made him seem younger for a moment.

"I don't know. Something about babysitting until the kid's guardian showed up. Sounds weird, I mean, who knew that the old hag liked kids?" With a shrug, Naruto pushed open the doors to see what was making the noise.

He stared down at the child on the ground, the mop of gray hair and the black mask that still covered the bottom half of the much smaller face. "You didn't..." Naruto stuttered out, staring at his teacher and the frantic looking Tsunade.

"I know I did!" She didn't seem happy, hands knotted into her hair, "And I can't get him to shut up! The first thing he does is open his mouth and start screaming his head off! He even scared Tonton off! Tonton!" A petrified squeal could be heard over the noise Kakashi was making for a few moments before fading back into the background noise.

Tsunade wrung her hands and began throwing around objects, "I tried food, toys, baby talk, everything else, and he just won't shut up!" She flopped down into her chair, staring at the child in exasperation as she rubbed her face. "It's like he's trying to get me back for this!"

"Well maybe if you didn't turn him into a three year old he wouldn't be screaming!" Naruto yelled back. Why did both of his teachers get turned into kids? This started an argument between the two blondes, making the child scream louder.

As they fought, yelling about ethical family values and how they shouldn't be tampered with, Sasuke moved over to the small Kakashi and picked him up, gazing into the red eye that had a black pinpoint spinning uncontrollably. Nodding to himself, he pulled the loose leaf headband down over the face of his teacher's eye, causing the flow of chakra being used to be cut off.

At the sudden quiet Tsunade and Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, finding the child Kakashi closing his visible with a grimace of pain covering his small face. He whimpered when Sasuke attempted to place him on the ground, his small fingers struggling to find a purchase in the black, almost skin tight, shirt that Sasuke was wearing.

"Finally, you got him to shut his loud mouth! I didn't know Kakashi even had it in him to be loud! What did you do?" Tsunade asked, throwing her hands up and relaxing into the chair which had seemed so uncomfortable only moments ago. "It took me almost an hour to get him dressed in something that wasn't falling off, then you come and get him to shut up in two minutes!"

Sasuke stared passively at her, trying not to explain to the woman how stupid he thought she was being. "He has a sharigan." The Uchiha mumbled, jostling the little boy up and down, stopping when Kakashi's steel eye snapped open and he whimpered in slight chakra-induced pain.

"Well, Naruto, to answer you question of why I did this is simple." Tsunade leaned over her desk, folding her hands primly in front of her body, "I flew by the seat of my pants on this one!" She smiled, tilting her head back to let the sunset hit her hair dramatically, highlighting her hair with red and orange.

Naruto cocked his eyebrow in confusion, Sasuke following suit, through a slight more subtle, more of a shift of the eyebrow instead of a full blown eyebrow raise. "What the hell does that mean?" The blonde teen questioned, turning to gesture to Kakashi, "And why did he have to be turned into a kid?"

"I want everyone in my village to be happy. Kakashi needs a little happiness in his life, don't you think?" She smiled again, looking younger than she felt at the moment, "Also, Sandaime seemed to find it amusing enough. If the hokage is happy, doesn't that make the village happy?"

Sasuke wrinkled his nose in confusion, the most emotion seen from him in three months. "So you turned him into a child."

"Of course, it's the best course of action." Tsunade held up a finger, "And he has a very special caretaker coming to pick him up in a few minutes. I hand picked them, so you don't need to worry about Kakas-" The hokage's eyes widened a fraction as the door slammed open and Iruka came striding in, his entire posture screaming 'pissed off'.

"What's this message about?" Iruka questioned, not noticing his former students or the small figure in one's arms. He held out the note, reading sardonically from it, "_Iruka-sensei I have a favor. Can't tell you what it is, but come see me after work and I'll tell you! ♥ Tsunade._ What do you want me to do that you couldn't just tell me?"

"Well, take care of Kakashi for one. He's a mess." Tsunade said, grabbing the bull by the horns. She was originally going to ask the teacher if he could help her organize Kakashi's mission reports, Iruka had filed most of the recent ones, but now she needed someone to look after the much younger Kakashi.

"Hatake-san is a jounin. He can take care of himself fine." Iruka said, crossing his arms and glaring down at the hokage. The nerve of that woman, making him think something was seriously wrong with this village.

"Um, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto cringed at the glare directed at him, smiling tentatively when his old teacher's smile softened after seeing who it was. "I don't think that's the truth anymore." He shrugged in the direction of Sasuke, who was still holding the now three year old Kakashi.

The child stared at the scarred man who stared right back at him, his small hand clutching Sasuke's dark shirt. Then, with no reason what so ever, the child's eye misted over and a huge tear slid down his cloth covered cheek. "Don't like!" He wailed, rubbing his head into Sasuke's chest.

_'It's a good thing Iruka accepted his new mission.'_ Tsunade thought as she watched Iruka stare at the child with a mixture of shock and fear. _'I would have just killed the brat in a couple more minutes.'_

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Relax, read, and review.

In that order, please.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

When I wrote this, I was building a cathedral on a hundred to one scale. I think the only thing it's missing, besides actual stained glass, is a working bathroom. It took me almost sixty hours of gluing and cutting of wood, just for one class.

Also, I just found out I have to do work, as in multiple research papers, in every single one of my classes over spring break. That's over fifty hours of work over seven days.

Seriously, I'm bushed right now.

* * *

_'No, no, no, no, no...'_

"It'll only be a few days at the most. A week I think was the time limit that Sandaime noted." The shuffling of many papers as one searched vainly for an answer.

_'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!'_

A muffled giggle that turned into a badly suppressed cough. "Besides, you'd have a few days off from school to take care of him. No skin off your nose, the other teachers will understand."

_'No, No, No, No, No!'_

"You might have to take Kakashi-kun to school tomorrow, but I'm sure he'll be good." A bright, "YEAH!" came from another blonde, earning him a glare.

_'NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!'_

A shrug of womanly shoulders accompanied a manicured hand patting the back of a pig, who was lounging on top of a pair of slightly muscular legs. "Then I guess we can let Sasuke and Naruto take care of him. They are his students."

_'Wait? They can't do that! No, don't think that way. No, No, No! That will be my final answer!'_

"I just hope those two don't get attacked by the other ninja when they find out about Kakashi's predicament. They all are very keen to see Kakashi's face, even if it is a child's." A well calculated smirk. "And it's too bad that Naruto and Sasuke don't know their abilities well enough to fight off a squadron of jounin without killing them. They don't know how ruthless those ninja can be in trying to see Kakashi's face."

_'I will not do it. Steel yourself, she's is not going to force you as hokage to obey her command.'_

Tsunade stared at Iruka as he struggled with himself, his face turning cherry red as he concentrated on not yelling or blurting out something that could be used against him. She tilted her head to look at Naruto, who was still moping from the glare from his old teacher, and winked. "Is he always like this when he's thinking?"

Naruto shrugged, "Sometimes he passes out if we don't stop him in time, or when he finally makes a decision." He moved over to Sasuke, looking down at the mop of gray hair that was a lot shorter than it used to be, attached to a very small child. "I think Iruka-sensei should take care of Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said firmly, receiving a nod from his dark haired companion.

"Interesting that you think so...Well, we are just going to have to speed this process up." The gold haired hokage placed Tonton on the ground, ignoring the squeal of protest, and clicked the button of the intercom on her desk.

Leaning forward, pointedly looking at Iruka, he was starting to look a little blotchy, Tsunade smirked. "Shizune, are you at your desk?" A muffled response came from the other end. "I need you to find Haruno Sakura. She should be with the other medi-nin's."

_'No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no-wait, Sakura? She can't be thinking that Sakura would do this? What am I thinking? Sakura would jump at the chance to take care of a cute kid. ... Did I just think cute? No, he's evil and a brat.'_

Waiting for a moment, the medical buildings were only next door, the hokage, a young jounin and the three other males in the room were greeted with a flustered Sakura running through the doors. "What is it, hokage-sama." Sakura said quickly, her face flushed slightly from running.

"I have a special mission for you, Sakura." Tsunade picked up a pen and started writing down a sheet of paper. She hoped she looked dramatic, even if she was only doodling a picture of Tonton flying a kite. "I need you to look after Kakashi for me."

_'She can't do that! That isn't fair! She should get an adult! Someone who knows what Hatake-san is capable of doing, even in that state!'_

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Is now, unfortunately, a three year old and I need someone to watch over him for a week." Tsunade pointed with the end of her pen to the small mass still clutching to Sasuke's shirt, obviously dozing. "Since Umino-sensei is taking such a long time to decide if he should accept the mission, I wondered if perhaps you would like the mission."

The pink haired teen stared at Kakashi, pure glee in her eyes, but then she began to think about the proposition. _'She offered it to Iruka-sensei and he said no?'_ She looked at her past teacher, confusion welling up in her chest. _'But Kakashi-sensei...After all those years and Iruka-sensei still doesn't have a clue.'_

Sakura sighed, staring at the ground. "I'm afraid I have to say no, hokage-sama." She tried to keep her face steady, she really did, but she felt her defenses crumble a little.

Hopefully they'll think she's upset because she couldn't take care of Kakashi, not because of the strife her teacher had to go through for the last few years. Kakashi had gone on multiple missions just to get away from Iruka-sensei, though he said he found the pony-tailed chunin quite annoying and he needed some fresh air away from them as a team, exhausting himself so he didn't have to think about the past, she now knew.

One time he had three S-class missions assigned to him that had to be finished in two weeks. After getting out of the hospital, one of the missing-nin had stabbed him in the shoulder and torn his muscle while poisoning him, the jounin had disappeared from the community for a couple of days. After searching, his team had found him sleeping in his apartment, where he had been for four straight days recharging his depleted batteries.

"I...I think..." She was startled from her thoughts when she felt a light tug on her pants, looking down to find a singular gray-blue eye staring up at her. Sakura felt her throat physically close at seeing her teacher looking so forlorn and lost. "I can't do it. I'm sorry." She leaned down to disengage the fingers from her skirt, trying to ignore the sick feeling creeping up her throat.

The small figure deflated, slumping to the ground near her feet. "Don't like me either." A sigh followed the barely heard statement, both muffled by the cloth that fit loosely across the pale face. "Okay." Kakashi murmured, a finger tracing a knot of wood on the floor.

"No."

Five heads snapped towards Iruka, whose face had returned to its normal, tan color, albeit, a little paler. The chunin walked forward and scooped up the mass that weighed almost nothing. "I like you." He said quietly next the child's ear, ignoring everyone for the moment, missing the look that passed between the three students and the hokage.

Kakashi smiled; his eye curving and mask slipping down a little, and burrowed his face into the teacher's neck, suddenly shy of the larger man.

"Iruka, does this mean you'll take the mission?" Tsunade lazily drawled, petting her pig, who had decided to somehow crawl back into her lap. "I can still ask someone else to do the job, like Gai." She ignored the shiver that went up every spine in the room, even Tonton, except for Kakashi, who didn't seem to remember Gai.

No worries. The great, green beast of Konoha was sure to reveal himself to his rival anytime soon.

She waved her hand at the others in her room. "You're all dismissed." Tsunade yawned with the hand, standing up with Tonton secure in her arms. "It's late and it's going to get colder the longer you all stay here. Go home before you get sick and die." Then, with a few hand seals and the dropping of her pig, everyone in the room was teleported into the street below.

* * *

"If you want, Iruka-sensei, we can take care of him." Naruto said as he pulled his body off the ground, holding a hand out for Sasuke while the other hand ran through his golden hair to free it from the debris that had lodged itself into the spiky mass.

Sakura nodded, having somehow remained standing after being teleported rather recklessly, and wrung her hands. "Kakashi-sensei might be some trouble. It might be easier if we three looked after him, kind of like a personal mission assigned by him? Then you wouldn't have to change your teaching schedule, Iruka-sensei, or worry about him as he grows up."

Iruka stared at his past students for a moment, a dazed look of surprise etched on his face as it just caught up with his brain what he had agreed to do, "I'll be fine." He said, nodding his head and smiling hesitantly, "I've dealt with kids before, so it should be easy taking care of this monster."

A pause in the chunin's reassurances as his brow furrowed, "Sakura, what did you mean by 'grow up'?" He directed a patented, Teacher Glare of Great Understanding, Don't Think You Can Lie to Me Stare TM at Sakura, and she, being out of practice, automatically felt a little woozy. "Sakura, answer me." He pushed, noting the pink haired girl's sudden interest in her new snow boots.

Sakura's gaze slowly traveled from the ground to her teacher's face, bottom lip trembling as she struggled to hold in the confession of what happened four years ago. _'How come this never happens to the others?'_ She thought ferociously as she shot a look at Naruto and Sasuke, who were currently staring at each other with a dreamy far-off look. Probably imagining what the other looked like if their clothes magically flew off that instant.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Sakura decided that maybe it would be the best to just tell the truth. Maybe someone would help her with a little lie, like Naruto. Better yet, Sasuke! He did make that lie to Neji when the white-eyed boy's lunch went missing; something about a hoard of squirrels of questionable virtue stealing it to bring to their king, who was residing in an acorn castle.

"Well, Iruka-sensei, I was just thinking about that time when you-"

She was promptly cut off as a cloud of smoke wandered over and engulfed the group. Luckily, there was always a strong breeze in Konohagakure after the sun set, so they didn't choke on the acrid air.

"Hello, Azuma-san." Sakura said instead, thankful for the sudden appearance of the jounin. He had stopped her from revealing the past, something Sandaime had sworn everyone to secrecy the morning Iruka was back to his normal self. Sakura thought the old leader did it to save Iruka's pride, but four years of maturity had exposed to her the wisdom that her twelve year old self couldn't comprehend.

"Have any of you seen Kurenai? She took the key to the apartment and won't tell me where she hid it." The cigarette toting man said, head snapping from side to side in an attempt to spot his newly appointed roommate with benefits. As with four years before, Kurenai and Azuma were still stubborn enough to say they didn't like the other at all, even though they were now sleeping, and acting, like an old couple more and more as time passed.

Just as Azuma was going to continue his rant of needing to get to sleep early because he had many, very important, no-not drinking, things to do the next day, a soft yawn was heard from the small form curled up in Iruka's arms. Everyone looked on in amazement at Kakashi as he turned his head to regard them, his single eye shining with an innocence that he lost at the young age of five years old.

"It can't be..." Azuma muttered. His jounin senses were in high alert from trying to find Kurenai so he automatically deduced who this youth could be. It was actually a quite simple task, when one set their mind to it. Ninja led very dangerous lives and many things could go wrong, also there weren't that many people in the village with gray hair to start with.

So, after much careful debating inside his head, which only took about three seconds, jounin had to think fast to stay in the job, Azuma leaned in and studied the child closer, unconsciously speaking the name of his now, in his eyes, fallen comrade. "Kakashi?"

At the mention of his name, the child moved his head to stare at Azuma, a giggle escaping from the cloth covered lips when it saw the shell-shocked face of the cigarette smoking man. Suddenly frightened at seeing such an expression on an adult, it got scary after more than three seconds; Kakashi turned a bit more and spotted Sasuke.

He smiled and gurgled happily, arms reaching out to the teen, "Here!" He chirped loudly, whimpering when Sasuke didn't respond, the Uchiha couldn't move since Naruto had developed a crushing hold on his hand, Kakashi rolled over and shoved his head into Iruka's chest to hide himself from the taller man.

"It's just like what happened last time..." Azuma muttered as he stood, casting a suspicious eye on Iruka before moving away in a brisk manner. "I think I heard Kurenai calling, something about a full-body massage!" And with a quick wave, Azuma disappeared into the inky night.

As Iruka turned to glare at his past students, and force them to tell him what was going on after he tortured them for three days and three nights, twenty-four hours for each teen, he was amazed at finding little wisps of smoke floating where his students had been.

He looked down at the snuggling child and sighed, "Why did you have to teach them how to teleport?"

* * *

Iruka shuffled into his house, closing the door with his foot as he placed Kakashi onto the front step that led into a hallway. As he sat down next to the child, untying his sandals and thinking about the late dinner he would probably be preparing, the chunin glanced over at Kakashi. The smile that resulted from seeing the three year old couldn't be repressed.

The small boy had pulled his shoes off and they lay forgotten in a small pile on the ground because he was surveying his new opponent, attempting to put a little distance between him and the newly appointed 'demon'.

Tootsie calmly stared back at the jounin, tail flicking in back of her in agitation of being woken up from her seventeen hour nap. Meowing quietly, she stood up and strode over to Kakashi with the intent of rubbing her head against the small child and hopefully making him fall onto the ground.

Tootsie had a very sick sense of humor.

The feline forgot her woes of no dinner from her owner who no longer loved her when a small hand hesitantly began to pet her gently, scratching behind the sensitive ears.

Iruka smiled and pulled himself off the step, thinking it was time to see if Kakashi would eat, knowing his cat would keep the youth occupied for the while. Leaving the sound of purring, he went into the kitchen and sighed when he spotted the clock. _'It's late, I'll just give him a big breakfast tomorrow before...school...'_

Iruka slapped himself in the head, already dreading what tomorrow would bring.

"Kakashi-san?" Iruka shook his head, wondering why he was still using the title as he moved back into the front part of his house only to find his cat completely curled around the lithe boy and her purring had risen to a higher decibel.

Kakashi turned to smile at Iruka for a second before leaning down and grabbing the cat around the stomach, skewering the trust that had just been formed with the animal. He stood up proudly, albeit a little shyly at meeting Iruka's eye, the cat's bottom still resting on the floor, and walked a step or two while dragging Tootsie along with him. "Fat cat." He giggled, bouncing the cat up and down as he continued to hold her.

Tootsie looked up at her owner, a plaintive meow asking him why he left her with this child, who was the kid anyway and if he was going to get her dinner in one syllable. Another meow that issued from the small cat, much louder than the last, screamed GIVE ME FOOD OR I SHALL SMITE THEE!

This frightened Kakashi into dropping her. That or the child wisely decided that it was time for him to release his hold on something that might eat him.

Iruka smiled, following his cat down the hallway with his eyes before turning back to Kakashi. The chunin sensei would swear later on, after many drinks that this was how he fell in love with Kakashi, despite the other man's fervent assurance to his fellow ninja that he saved Iruka from an avalanche and the pony-tailed man pledged his love from there on in.

Sitting on the floor in a crumbled heap, the child stared at the receding back of his first opponent that he lost to. Instead of brushing it off, like his future self would, Kakashi looked up at his guardian, his singular eye shining as he compared Iruka silently with Sasuke. "Help?" He asked quietly, holding his hands up in a pleading manner to the chunin.

His heart melting, and whose wouldn't, even if Kakashi was a brat in their minds, Iruka stooped over and collected the mass of sadness that was the boy at the moment, "It's okay." He said while he moved down the hallway to his bedroom, thinking that Kakashi was just tired and that was why he was acting so...Un-Kakashi-like. "You're going to go to bed and everything will be better in the morning."

_'Or I will be killing our hokage and mounting her head on the wall. Right after I kill Kakashi.'_ He silently added to himself as he pushed open the door with his foot.

Placing the toddler on the bed, Iruka had to suppress a blush when Kakashi held his arms up again, this time for the chunin to lift up the shirt Tsunade had wrestled him into. "He's just a kid, just a kid. You don't need to worry about him giving you a lecherous smile, or a little grope, or anything like that..." Iruka muttered under his breath, having never been on the receiving end of anything like that from Kakashi, but he heard stories and ninja would never lie, right?

Huddled underneath the comforters, Kakashi's trademark bush of hair waved slightly as he changed his position. "Stay here with me?" He asked sweetly, most likely smiling underneath his mask, which the child had refused to take off. Small fingers held onto the hand that had tucked him in, pleading not to be left alone.

"I can't." Iruka ruffled the mass of hair, cursing himself after the deed was done. "I have some work to do. I'll be back in a few minutes, I swear." Iruka mock frowned down at the little boy, "So go to sleep."

Kakashi nodded sternly, bottom lip sticking out so much one could see the outline through the mask, and promptly collapsed on the bed, fake sounding snores coming from his lips as he "fell asleep", small giggles escaping from the boy as he thought of how he was tricking the adult. A few moments later the obnoxious snores had transformed into small murmurs of sleep coming from parted lips as Kakashi unwittingly slipped into dreamland against his wishes.

_'His acting is a little over the top, but I guess that's what Kakashi would be like when he was little...'_ Iruka mused as he left the room, keeping the door open...just in case. _'But he was very quiet. Strange for a child...'_

Shaking these thoughts from his head, Iruka grabbed a comforter from the hall closet and ambled over to the couch, where his trusted feline companion lay waiting, sprawled across the top section with an ease only accomplished by cats and drunks.

_'At least this will be over by tomorrow...I'll make Tsunade change him back so I can get back to my life without Hatake Kakashi in it.'_ Then the chunin-sensei let his thoughts drift off into sleep, ignoring the strange smell that always seemed to come from his cat, instead concentrating on her unusually loud purring, and allowed his body to contort to the lumps located in his couch.

* * *

Iruka jolted back into reality when slight pain laced through his stomach, caused by his cat that was used his stomach as a springboard to gain the needed height to jump over the coffee table. Wondering why his cat would leave, she slept like a rock most of the time, and wincing when he prodded the offended section of his stomach, he rolled over to see if he could find her.

And promptly fell off the couch.

"Shit..." Iruka grumbled as he rubbed his head, glaring at the table that he had nicked his head with. "Stupid table..." He looked up and saw the glowing eyes of Tootsie staring at him, closing at intervals as she blinked. "Stupid cat, waking me up at," The chunin looked at a clock, his eyes squinting in the dim light, "Two in the morning."

As he muttered angrily, standing up and falling over again when he discovered one cannot walk with a blanket wrapped around one's legs, Iruka heaved a sigh and pulled himself off the ground. "This is great. Just how I wanted to start the day." Iruka hopped on one leg as he struggled to release himself from the comforter prison that had formed through the night.

"Might as well do something productive with this time, like checking on Kakashi and making sure he didn't escape...Probably ran off to Sasuke...brat..." Iruka muttered as he attempted to run his fingers through his hair, wincing when he found that it was still in a ponytail and in complete disarray from being slept on.

Puling out his hair tie, and a sizable hunk of hair, the chunin shook out his hair and groaned as the greasy locks settled at the base of his neck. "Maybe I'll frighten him off so I can actually get work done, and not have to look after him."

With that in mind, and feeling a little lightheaded from ripping his hair out, Iruka strode over to his door with his cat on his heels.

Expecting the child to be asleep, it was two in the morning; Iruka was surprised when he opened the door to see the child sitting up in the bed. Pushing the door open the rest of the way, the chunin walked forward cautiously to the bed. "Kakashi?"

At the sound of his name, the boy jerked his head up and stared at Iruka as if he was his savior. "You promised..." Kakashi muttered, head dropping down to land on his knees so he could stare down at the blankets covering his body.

Iruka sat down on the bed, lying down after a moment's hesitation next to the child and hummed, confused at what the child was alluding to. The chunin stiffened when the small jounin lifted his head and glared at Iruka weakly. The watery moonlight was able to pick up the faint glimmer of wetness on the pale cheeks.

Iruka leaned over and pulled Kakashi towards him. "I'm here now, so stop crying." He sighed heavily when the smaller form began to hiccup at his words, rubbing the child's back in an attempt to comfort him and trying to sooth his own growing headache.

As Kakashi quieted down, much to Iruka's relief, he stopped stare up at his newly assigned guardian with pure trust in his visible eye. Smiling, the corner of his mouth could be seen above his slipping mask, he snuggled into the warm chest in front of him. "Happy you came..." He said quietly, falling back into an untroubled sleep.

_'This world is lucky that three-year-old's don't suffer heartbreak like adults.'_ Iruka thought as he looked out his window at the still sleeping Konohagakure, avoiding the urge to check on the child attached to his front as if it were the plague. _'Or else this broken promise would not have been so easily resolved.'_

Iruka felt his mood turn a complete 180o when he finally looked down and saw a puddle of drool on his shirt, his eyebrow ticked dangerously. _'I hate this little brat.'_

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I'm sorry, but the point when Kakashi gets picked up by Iruka for the first time. GAH! I write such cuteness, I feel myself getting cavities!

Will Kakashi remember what happened to him all those years ago? Will Iruka refrain from killing the now younger jounin? And where are all the female ninja, who are known for squealing over small, adorable children? Oh dear...

Driving to Disney World right after I post this chapter for you guys. Review, it keeps the creative juices flowing!

* * *

On a side note...

If you happen to have some ideas that you think are totally awe-inspiring and would be cool in my story, drop a line, even though I have most of the story planned out so far. Send your awesome-ness to me through mail, see my profile, or PM me at Gaiaonline on at DC-Chan.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

I live! Like a reanimated American, I creep to my computer to finish a chapter that has been done for almost three months. Hope you fellows all like this chapter, I had to delete the whole thing twice to start over again because I didn't like the "feel" to it.

Pssh. I'm silly.

Also, it is summer! Which does not mean faster updates, as some of my Plastic Ponies reviewers might remember. I am back on my hectic schedule of tennis practice, play practice and job, some community service, horseback riding lessons and taking care of my brother, who broke his leg.

Huzzah!

* * *

Iruka glared at his classroom, hands on his hips as the children continued to talk. This had been going on from almost a half hour, since he had stomped into the room five minutes late with a giggling Kakashi under his arm.

It had taken over an hour to instruct the jounin how to brush his teeth and in the end Iruka had to tackle the small boy and brush the little teeth himself. Kakashi, it seemed, found it hilarious to eat toothpaste instead of using it for its intended purpose.

Shaking his head free of the troubling thoughts of death by toothpaste ingestion, not to mention the conversation to the hokage explaining the death of her elite jounin, Iruka leaned back heavily against his desk. The teacher grimaced as he felt the skin on his right hand stretch taunt. Kakashi had not been as helpful as he hoped; fighting with all his childish strength once he realized he would have to take his mask off to brush his teeth.

Sighing, Iruka glared at a sudden exclamation of joy from a section of girls. No doubt gossiping about how he was having a love affair with Kakashi-sensei. He didn't know how these rumors started, pre-teen girls were not supposed to think that way, he was sure, but it was slowly escalating into a problem that he would most likely have to face today.

What were the other teachers going to say during lunch break?

_'I'll worry about that later,'_ Iruka thought to himself, his well placed glare quieting more than half of the classroom, '_Right now I just have to get the class back on track.'_ He grimaced at another wistful sigh from the girls, wishing that his extended, forced vacation from school could have started today instead of tomorrow.

Clearing his throat, Iruka pushed off from his desk and stepped into the middle of the lecture room floor. "If you all don't be quiet in the next five minutes, I will give you a pop-quiz and a letter home to your parents." He stared at the few students who had heard and were now looking at him with stricken looks, "That means everyone in the classroom. Think of it as training." He thoughtfully added on, seeing some of the more talented students forming a seal or two in an attempt to shut up their neighbors.

Turning, and congratulating himself on a job well done, Iruka spotted the small child jounin working tirelessly on a coloring book. Remembering how the coloring book came to be in the boy's possession, an impromptu gift from another teacher as she brushed past Iruka coming into the academy.

She had immediately squealed at seeing Kakashi, forgetting about her own kindergarten class, and dug through her bag to find the book for the new youngster.

Ignoring the world around him, Kakashi was painstakingly coloring in-between the lines. No, clouds were not supposed to be orange, but he colored in only the clouds that color so it was okay. It shows character and imagination, his parents would most likely say if asked about the color.

Iruka blanched at the clashing colors, he had never seen pink water or purple grass. The thought of Kakashi maybe being color blind flashed through Iruka's mind a few times, vague enough to be known but not often enough to begin to be investigated. Maybe that would explain his preference to the bright orange colored Paradise books. Stepping closer, Iruka paused and glanced down at the open book, the splashes of color standing out from the white background.

The people and figures in the picture were colored in bland colors, mostly black, but contrasting the dull shades was a splash of red crayon against their mouths and certain parts of their body.

Squatting slightly, so his chest was even with his desk, Iruka placed a hand over Kakashi's smaller one, stopping it from drawing in another deep gash of red on top of the dancing puppy on the page. "Why did you use that color, Kakashi-kun?" Iruka asked, shocked at seeing something so traumatic in the art of someone so young. He didn't expect an answer, Kakashi had been strangely quiet after he had ripped his mask off this morning, but was shocked when the child paused in his coloring to stare at him with a pale eye.

He shrugged weakly as he tapped the picture with the blunt end of his crayon, ignoring the grunts of effort coming from the classroom that was suddenly in a frenzy of students trying to quiet their peers before Iruka-sensei turned around. "Daddy said he does this." The full sentence, more than the usual two syllables, took Iruka by surprise.

His light blue eye regarded Iruka with a worried glance, a short finger pointing at a boy who was hugging the puppy. "But that's not true... Daddy's..." The boy's head was a blob of angry red slashes, almost eclipsing the initial black outline of ink that had created the picture. "Does that?"

Before Iruka could swoop down and comfort Kakashi, it was unsettling to hear the child's confusion concerning his father's work as a ninja, the killing of other living beings; he was dragged back into the school room by a loud cough from one of his students.

"Um... Iruka-sensei?" The dark haired boy who was currently tied to a chair, a practice kunai held up to his face, shuffled uncertainly. "We're now all ready to learn." When he finished the girl holding the kunai shoved a piece of fabric into his mouth and flopped down into her chair, hands folded primly in front of her body on top of the desk.

"Ah...Yes." Iruka cleared his throat, turning away from Kakashi to face the class. Before he could start, though, one of the girls struggled free from her binding and asked the question that had been plaguing the minds of some of the less-innocent minded children for the first half of the day:

"Is he your love child with Kakashi-san?" A pause as the class turned to stare at their teacher, waiting for a response, "And who was the mommy?" She wrestled free an arm to point at the small child sitting at Iruka's desk, his bush of grey hair moving slightly from raising his head.

Iruka groaned, again leaning back on his desk to ponder the thoughts of becoming a missing-nin.

* * *

"Kakashi-chan, look at me. Yes, look at me. Aw, you're just sooooo cute! If I could I would steal you away from Iruka and we would have a fun time. Yes we would. And then you'd have more friends and you'd get to stay with me for the next week or so!"

Kurenai, having heard from Asuma last night about her fellow jounin being turned chibi, promptly showed up at the teacher's lounge as soon as lunch started. She believed that she might be able to wrestle Kakashi from Iruka, knowing how much the chunin-sensei seemed to loath the copy ninja. It never hurt to try.

"I don't think he's responding, Kurenai-san." Iruka said dully, his eyes hooded as he glared at the woman. His chopsticks stabbed into a poor fishcake that was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Ignoring the face of the woman, she was taking on a horrible pouting look; Iruka looked down at the child sitting on his lap, who was staring at the red-eyed woman in front of him with a curious gaze.

"Great. Now you've put him off his lunch. Good job, Kurenai." Iruka said, leaning over to pull the small pair of plastic chopsticks, held clumsily in the child's much-too-small hands, over to the pre-packaged lunch.

Stopping at a market stand on the way to school had been a good choice, allowing Iruka to pick up a meal for both Kakashi and himself in the form of instant ramen for himself, and a little plastic lunchbox for the grey-haired boy.

The jounin huffed, crossing her arms and her legs in one fluid motion. "If Tsunade just let me have him in the first place, he wouldn't have had a chance to be put off his lunch." She huffed, ignoring the looks she was now gaining from the other teachers.

"But she didn't. She obviously chose me because she knew that I would take proper care of him. He is about the same age as one of my younger students." Iruka said as he guided the small hand, holding the chopsticks, surprisingly, in the correct manner, into the small box that contained some white rice and a couple of pieces of eel. He had to guard his ramen from the little heathen, who kept getting caught with his chopsticks in the chunin's lunch.

Of course, Iruka couldn't properly punish Kakashi since every time he found the child in his meal said boy would grin through his mask and lean back into the lap he was sitting on, trying to cuddle into Iruka's stomach. This repeated action created a perfect opportunity for all of the women in the lounge to "aw" and pout over the current events, and ask each other why _they_ didn't have Kakashi. Personally, it made Iruka want to thwap the little hellion over his head before he became too much of a smart aleck.

"Besides, why do you even want to look after Kakashi?"

Kurenai blinked, leaning over the table, her box of curry forgotten for the moment, "Because he's so cute! You just don't understand, Iruka!" She scoffed, falling back into her chair with a thump.

"When he gets older, I don't think Kakashi-san will appreciate being used as a fashion accessory." Iruka huffed, brushing off a few grains of rice that had fallen on his pants. "I don't think it's good for him to switch people a lot. It might mess up with his memory or his personality. Besides if," Iruka cleared his throat at his own slip, "**_when_** Kakashi-san returns to normal it would be best if he wasn't shown around to everyone beforehand as a child. It would make them think he was weak or some sort of farfetched idea like that."

"Oh, Iruka, you turned out fine after we had all our fun, so what could a little fun do to Kakashi?"

The sudden silence after the statement, spoken in jest, caused the small child to look up at his caretaker, no longer pretending his chopsticks were a crab's claw. Worried when Iruka didn't move, Kakashi craned his neck around to stare up at the man whose lap he was currently sitting on.

"Ruka?" The young boy murmured, the first time attempting to say the chunin's name.

Iruka felt his jaw tense, staring at Kurenai with a grimace of pain flashing across his face at a tug on his vest collar from Kakashi when he didn't respond. "What did you say, Kurenai?"

Caught in the act of spilling the beans, the jounin flushed a horrible shade of red. "I was just mentioning when you were little!" She giggled loudly, shifting back into her seat, patting her neck with her hand, trying to think of a plausible reason for her previous words. "Your mother used to carry you around all the time and it didn't affect what you are like now. I don't think it would affect Kakashi that much!"

"That must be what she meant, Iruka-sensei. What else could Kurenai-san be talking about?" A voice spoke from the doorway, mixing in with the comments from the other teachers trying to back up Kurenai's flimsy argument. They didn't want Iruka to find out what happened, fly off the handle, and then run away, never to be seen again.

The ninja of Konoha were a worrisome group, almost like a herd of flighty gazelles, if one had to compare them to a wild animal. Not the mighty lion or stealthy predator they would have the other villages believe them to be.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" Iruka said, forgetting about the jounin's unusual comment for the moment to turn and stare at his old student. Kakashi gazed at the pink-haired girl for a second, his clear blue eye seeming to analyze her every movement, before shoving his hand into the rice in front of him.

"No, Kakashi-kun!" Iruka cried out in shock, turning to see the little boy lift out two huge handfuls of food and dump it onto the table. Then, ignoring the look of distress on Iruka's face, Kakashi crawled onto the table to begin construction on a small house from the sticky, white substance.

Instead of trying to fix the problem, like he would usually do, Iruka simply slumped in defeat and allowed his head to fall limply onto the table, only inches away from the house that was slowly forming into a rice palace. This strange action from the chunin-sensei frightened the people present. Since when did Iruka let a kid get the best of him?

"Um...Iruka-sensei, are you alright?" Sakura ventured, earning a glare from the child sitting on the table and a sigh from the rest of the room at the break in silence. "Do you need any help with Kakashi-sensei? I think I can take care of him until your afternoon classes are over, if you really need someone to..." The teen offered, distressed at seeing her past teacher so distressed looking.

"That would be great, Sakura-chan." Iruka muttered into the wood surface, now aware of Kakashi giggling softly as he started to pile a large percentage of the rice castle into his own grey hair. The teacher shifted his weight so he could stare at the child who would grow up to be an assassin.

Feeling someone new staring at him, the rest of the room had been looking at him strangely since he walked in; Kakashi paused in his fun to look deep into a pair of dark brown eyes. He smiled behind his mask and held out a hand filled with rice. "Ruka want?" The child asked while his other hand was still lodged firmly in his rice building.

Before Iruka could answer, Sakura moved forward and scooped Kakashi into her arms. "Come on, Kakashi-sensei. Iruka-sensei wants to have some time by himself. I'll bring you back to him at the end of the day." Her statement was followed by Kurenai standing up from her own chair, intent on following the younger girl with the boy.

"We'll take good care of you, Kakashi." She rubbed the fellow jounin's head of hair, laughing quietly. "Don't be so sad looking."

As the two woman walked to the door they caught the envious eye of their comrades. Of course, who wouldn't be jealous of taking care of the cutie that Hatake-san was currently. A few women looked conspiratorially towards each other; they would attack later tonight, after they put their own children to bed. The perfect plan!

Iruka pushed his head off the table and followed Kurenai and Sakura as they strode out the door, Kakashi firmly held in Sakura's arms. He frowned slightly when he spotted Kakashi, his small frame sheltered by the female ninja, confusion hitting the chunin-sensei twice in one day. He didn't understand why the child was looking at him as if he just abandoned him.

So Iruka did the only thing he could do for the little boy he was allowing to be carried away, at least until the end of the day: He waved goodbye.

* * *

The children in Iruka's class were slightly disappointed when they returned from lunch to find that the small child that had been sitting at their teacher's desk had mysteriously disappeared. A few whispers were spoken about maybe he had been stolen by evil missing-nin, and then the hypothesis that the older women of the village stole him from Iruka surfaced from the children's imagination. A couple of the bolder students agreed with the ridiculous former; most agreed with the latter for realistic purposes.

As the clock continued to tick on, counting down the time the children had to remain in class; Iruka stared blankly at the board as he scribbled out a math equation that had to do with kunai velocity and opposite wind speed. '_I'm not worrying about Kakashi, no, that would be silly. I'm worrying about...Sakura! Yes, what would Kakashi do without him to protect his student!_

_'Psh, Sakura has Kurenai to watch out for her. I have no idea what those two women are doing with Kakashi, but I do hope they know what they're doing.'_ He thought to himself as he continued with the example, making it extra hard so he would have at least ten minutes of free time as his students struggled for an answer.

Sitting down at his desk, Iruka collected some of the tests from earlier in the day. _'It's not that I'm worrying about Kakashi...'_ He continued, marking his tests with a renewed vigor. Ripping through a couple of the papers with a felt tip marker was a mean feat in and of itself, and the academy teacher seemed to be able to do it without a second thought. Of course, once he realized what he was doing, Iruka stopped and applied less pressure to the pieces of pulverized tree pulp.

"Hey, Iruka, have you seen Kurenai by any chance?" Asuma, one could assume, spoke from a cloud of smoke as he dropped his cigarette to crush under his shoe. Immediately after, he shoved another unlit cigarette in his mouth.

The chunin sensei started and looked up from his work, silently cursing the stealth of the jounin. "No, Asuma, she left with Sakura. They both decided that they had to take care of Kakashi for me."

"Ah, Kakashi..." Asuma chuckled lightly, moving deeper into the classroom, winking at a few of the students that gave up solving the question on the board. "Is he still acting like a brat to you?"

Iruka glared at the other man, his brows furrowing before he suddenly sighed and relaxed back into his chair. "I don't understand!" He exclaimed, lowering his voice when he noticed the small children watching him, leaning over to Asuma, "What is wrong with him? Kakashi-san is such a little brat, but he somehow manages to do it all without speaking!"

"It's one of his many talents." Asuma answered, "Actually, some of the older nin I talked to said Kakashi was always quiet when he was little. Really unnerving, I believe an old woman said." He tapped at his chin thoughtfully, "Maybe you can help him out a little in that department, Iruka. You're good with kids, getting them to open up and all that mind game stuff."

"I am a teacher. It's my job, as well as yours."

"Yeah, but you do it so much better." A chuckle strained from the jounin's mouth as he attempted to laugh while holding his cigarette in between his teeth.

"Nonsense," Iruka picked up a pen and balanced it on its tip on the table's surface, "You're a fine teacher, and Ino is always raving about you."

Asuma's chest puffed out in pride, "True. In fact, I think once she said that I was as good as you when it came to teaching."

Before the conversation of teacher flattery could continue, Iruka was going to get Asuma back somehow; a soft knock was heard on the door. As Iruka stood up a newly graduated genin walked in, still feeling strange about completing a mission that required him to return to his alma mater. The boy paused and smiled, holding out a folded piece of paper. "Iruka-sensei, I was asked to bring this to you." He grinned, showing a gap where two missing front teeth would be, and bowed, mission completed.

Iruka sighed, ripping open the seal, "Actually, Asuma, I think you should be looking after your new students instead of asking me where Kurenai-" His eyes glanced over the paper in his hand, closing them for a moment to regain his bearings. "Excuse me, Asuma-san, I have to go somewhere. Do you think you can watch over my kids?" He gestured to the curious children who were glancing up from the class work.

"You might as well use your great teacher skills. You did say they were as good as mine." Iruka teased, already walking out the door, following the gap-toothed genin.

"That was Ino!" Asuma yelled, turning around to face the thirty children who were starting to grin in an evil manner. He sighed and plucked his cigarette out from his lips, lighting it without a second thought of the consequences. Maybe some of the hellions would die of smoke inhalation before they got to him.

* * *

The moment Iruka stepped outside the academy he rounded on the student that was suddenly lagging behind. "What do you want, Sasuke?" He stared at the boy, watching the poorly attempted confused act for a moment before he cleared his throat. "You forgot to change your eyes. A big mistake for someone so talented, Sasuke, I'm a little offended you wouldn't think I would notice." He helpfully pointed at the glaring red eyes, "Assuming I would pay attention only to the note you gave me."

The chunin twisted the piece of paper in his hands as the Uchiha transformed back into his sixteen year old self. A frown marred his perfect features as he continued to glare at the older man. "Hn."

Iruka smiled, another intelligent response from the ever stoic Sasuke. "Since this piece of paper doesn't seem to say anything, except a poorly drawn picture of Naruto, perhaps you could explain why you felt it important to use a henge jutsu to sneak into my classroom and then drag me out?"

"Hn."

Massaging his temples, he really didn't have time to deal with this after leaving Asuma alone in the building with his destruction-prone class; Iruka studied Sasuke for a moment. It was almost as if he was reverting back to his academy days where he wouldn't speak with anyone except for those little grunts. Everyone tried, but Naruto was the only one who could get a "dobe" or "idiot" to pass his lips, which stood for normal conversation.

"By the way, where is Naruto?" Iruka asked, finally noting the absence of the blonde haired teenager. Ever since Sakura had let it drop that the boys might be in love, the chunin-sensei had spotted the two with each other almost constantly, glued to the hip. But today, Naruto was mysteriously missing from the picture.

Sasuke shrugged, showing infamous indifference, and motioned for Iruka to follow him. About halfway down a side road, Iruka finally unfolded the piece of paper still clutched in his hand.

The picture of a stick figure Naruto, it had to be him, still glared back, crudely drawn, and looked as if it was crying. _'Why would Naruto be crying?'_ Iruka thought to himself, tapping his chin in a thoughtful way. _'Of course, it is a stick figure, it could be anyone...'_

"Interrogation."

Iruka jolted at the word spoken from Sasuke, his eyes narrowing until he discovered that the teen was reading off the door that was now in front of them. "Why do we need to go here?" He asked, blanching slightly when Sasuke moved to open the door. He couldn't possibly be able to open it, the interrogation room was meant to be locked at all times.

Sasuke turned slightly, his onyx eyes fixing on his past teacher, a small smirk gracing his lips. "We have to help Ibiki." He stated, turning back to the door, hand almost on the handle, before it suddenly thrust open, hitting him in the face and knocking him out.

"Oi, Iruka-sensei, we needed your help and I guess Sasuke-teme got you." Naruto yelled, stepping out from behind the door and, consequently, stepping on his teammate. Yelping at the prone form of Sasuke that was slowly regaining consciousness, the blonde crouched down on all fours and placed a hand on Sasuke's forehead. "Sasuke, you okay?" He whispered, eyes taking on a darker hue of blue.

Instead of answering, Sasuke stood up and brushed himself off, wiping off the trickle of blood that was moving down his chin.

Before a fight could begin, the Uchiha was looking slightly miffed at being taken out by a door, Iruka wisely stepped in. "Ah, yes. Why did you feel it was necessary to drag me out of class, Naruto-kun?"

The blonde bounced up from the floor, avoided Sasuke, and landed on the ground with a slight oof. He grinned and pushed the Interrogation door wider, carefully avoiding Sasuke this time, motioning for the chunin to follow him. "Well, it has to do with Kakashi-sensei."

"Of course...Wait, how? I thought Kurenai and Sakura were taking care of him." Iruka scoffed loudly, his words echoing off the walls.

Naruto shrugged, following the narrow hallway that was slowly being directed underground. "They were, but all I know is that Ibiki-san sent a notice out to Sasuke and me, we got to see an ANBU and everything, and they brought us here.

"All I know is," Naruto opened a door that had appeared in front of the group, a loud wailing coming from the other side, "the ladies found out about Kakashi-sensei."

And there, sitting in the middle of the floor, sat Morino Ibiki with a stuffed bear in his hands attempting to make cooing noises while smiling. And sitting in his lap, bawling his eyes out while trying not to hiccup, sat the youngest jounin who ever lived.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Just because I like seeing Ibiki, he makes a cameo. He's one of my favorite characters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

I love cranberry cocktail. And I love my friend's three year-old brother who inspired all of my chibi fanfics. He's the one who started me on the kick of little kids being adorable when they want to be your 'best friend'. I 3 Ryan.

I wrote three-fourths of this chapter today.

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**_

Feeling as if each of his limbs were about to fall off, Iruka trudged down the street slowly. Whimpering lightly against the nape of his neck was Kakashi. The little boy had refused to budge since the incident, simply sitting on the floor crying, but the temptation of a piggy back ride was simply too hard to resist.

"You okay back there, brat?" Iruka asked, shifting his weight as he stopped, shivering at a slight chill that gusted through the town. Konoha was not known for cold winters, it being the fire region, but it seemed as if these random gusts of cold air were premonitions of future seasons. The chunin smiled slightly maybe he would be able to enjoy snow, if any came.

In response to his question, a small snuffle came from the child. Kakashi burrowed his head deeper into Iruka's back, muttering an indiscernible word before stilling. Iruka paused in his walking to see if the child would actually say a word he could understand, but continued once Kakashi started rubbing his cheek against his back.

The teacher sighed and felt the weight of more exhaustion come crashing down onto his frame. It was bad enough he had to look after Kakashi, he still didn't understand why he had been picked, but the kid kept getting into trouble. First there was the incident with the hokage, getting him to agree to take care of him, and Kakashi using his cuteness to somehow take over his common sense. Then there was the whole coloring book/teacher's break room thing that he didn't even want to get into.

"Go home." Iruka was shaken from his disturbing thoughts at the small voice coming from behind him and at the sudden slack around his neck. "See daddy."

Feeling confused, the chunin stopped on the sidewalk and lowered his body into a crouch. Kakashi slipped from his back and took hold of the larger, tan hand, leaning forward so he could catch Iruka's attention. "Take me home?"

Glancing down into the miserable, ice-blue eye, Iruka felt his chest tighten for a moment before he heavily sighed again. "Kakashi-kun, I can't do that." He attempted to ignore the child's pout and swallowed the lump in his throat, "The hokage said you have to stay with me."

He stared at Kakashi as the boy crouched down, mirroring his own body position, but the child refused to let go of his hand, even in the uncomfortable position he was in. The jounin lifted up his own free hand and gripped tightly at his headband. Iruka, for a moment, feared that he was going to rip off the metal-plated piece of fabric, revealing the powerful sharigan; instead the grey haired boy jerked the emblem of being a ninja squarely over both of his eyes.

"Hey...You okay?" Iruka scooted over and slowly ran his hands through the gravity defying hair, marveling at the softness of it.

Kakashi nodded and thickly replied, "Hai." It was slightly disconcerting to not be able to see any of the child's face, Iruka noted to himself. The jounin leaned his small frame against the teacher, who could feel the tremors from the other body snaking their way up and down his leg.

Iruka slide an arm around the shaking form and tilted the boy's face up with his other hand. The fully masked face stared at him silently, though he could see a silhouette of a bottom lip nervously being chewed on.

"Are you crying?" Iruka asked quietly, pulling the child closer. Before they moved any further he wanted to make sure that Kakashi was all right, so he was confused when the jounin shook his head in a negative to his question.

"No." Kakashi quickly responded, pouting. And Iruka could tell his was pouting by the way he spoke the answer so quickly. Also the fact that the boy's jutting lip was easily seen through the skin-tight fabric.

Iruka smiled in spite of the situation, suddenly standing and holding Kakashi in his arms. "Are you sure?" He asked playfully as he started to walk towards his home again, lifting the lowered headband up to smile into the unmasked eye. "It's okay if you are."

Kakashi, not seeing what could possibly be so funny in his three year old mind, and hating being questioned, tugged down the fabric again and hunched over in Iruka's arms grumbling something under his breath.

"What are you saying? Are you sad because Ibiki had to watch you for a little while?" The chunin asked, stopping under a streetlamp, feeling the air warmed slightly from the light. "I'm sorry, but I really needed to get my class on task and you were distracting them.

"Besides, Ibiki couldn't be that bad...Even though I did let Kurenai and Sakura take care of you and I have no idea how you ended up with the interrogation captain." Iruka smiled, shrugging when he felt a crick in his neck.

Kakashi froze in Iruka arms, no longer shaking from the tears that he was not crying, turning his face upwards. He pulled up his headband and glared as harshly as he could with one eye; it seemed that he understood that whenever his 'other' eye was shown it hurt. "Ninja don't cry."

Iruka sighed, the phrase coming out of a child's mouth just sounded sad, a testament to the life of a ninja, "Yes, Kakashi-kun, but I'm a ninja and I cry sometimes."

The boy paused for a moment, pouting again as he thought over the phrase. "You're not a good ninja." He nodded at his reasoning and leaned against the chest of the man he just insulted in a few syllables, somehow ignoring the huge blood vessel that was slowly growing larger and larger, pulsating with each heartbeat. It seemed that if you were once a brat, you were always a brat.

But then again, Iruka glanced down and watched as the cretin chewed relentlessly on his vest's collar, through his mask of course, it was sort of cute seeing Kakashi as a kid. Something he had never witnessed firsthand, since he was younger than Kakashi and the jounin had been quickly promoted up to ANBU when he himself was barely a genin.

"Kakashi-kun?" At the mention of his name, the child stopped chewing and guiltily looked up at his guardian for the time being. "Who do stay with when your father goes away on a mission?" Maybe this could lead him to someone who knew Kakashi when he was little, someone who could tell him something important about the kid.

The child looked at Iruka for a moment, as if asking him quietly if he was an idiot, before resuming his first job of chewing on Iruka collar. At this rate he would make it to the shoulder in a couple of minutes.

Using a free hand to pinch at the bridge of his nose, Iruka sighed under his breath. "Kakashi-kun, I need you to tell me if you remember anyone who watched you when your dad was not home." The teacher looked up in time to allow a woman to walk past, avoiding the near collision. Iruka watched her walk past, wondering if she was one of the ninja women he had been warned about by Ibiki.

"Pervert."

The shocked chunin looked down, jaw hanging slightly open so that it brushed against his chest. Did that brat just...? Did he...? Maybe it was his imagination. Iruka nodded and continued to walk down the street, trying to remember where his house was. Most of the time he traveled by rooftop; it was faster and he avoided over anxious mothers who inquired about their children too much.

"Pervert." Kakashi cooed eagerly, stopping his chewing to repeat his statement. His eye curved happily and his wide smile could be seen even through the tight mask.

Iruka blanched, "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not a pervert!" He blushed deeply when a passing couple stared at his strangely, crossing the street to walk on the other sidewalk.

The jounin giggled and snuggled into Iruka's chest, covering his mouth, even though it was already covered with fabric, with his hand when he yawned sleepily. Moving his face tiredly against the vest, Kakashi looked up at Iruka, curled up as a kitten often does on a pillow. "Pervert watches me."

"I told you I'm not a pervert!" Iruka said again, growling the answer. "Kakashi-kun, I just wanted to know who took care of you when your father goes away on a mission. Why do you have to try and divert the question?"

Shocked from his sleep, Kakashi looked up at the chunin with a teary eye. Rubbing his face with a hand turned into a fist, the child sniffed loudly and swallowed just a noisily. "I didn't divert it!" He shook his head after stumbling slightly on the 'adult' word and burrowed his face into the man's chest, "Ruka..."

Iruka frowned and threaded his hand through the child's hair, seeing the start of a temper tantrum. What was Kakashi doing up so late anyway? Most of his students who were this age had multiple naps and early curfews for bed, but Kakashi was up with Iruka, and fighting about breakfast, when the sun rose. "You're just cranky." Iruka muttered under his breath, cursing himself for not seeing that the jounin got a nap or two during the day.

"Am not. Pervert watches me when daddy goes." Kakashi said in a very cranky tone, even if he wasn't cranky, his longest sentence yet in Iruka's presence, catching the chunin's attention and triggering his 'mother hen' instincts, as nicknamed by Naruto.

Suddenly, something went off in Iruka's mind. "Are you talking about Jiraiya?" He asked, astonished that he didn't see it before. The sannin was usually seen around Konoha, after he returned with Naruto, and he was in the village around the same time as Kakashi's father. Since they were both high-level nin, it made sense for Jiraiya to be roped into taking care of kids. Iruka was pulled into it numerous times, though he didn't know why anyone would want Jiraiya to watch after their child.

Kakashi nodded again, his single eye closing as he unwillingly drifted near sleep. Shaking his head, the jounin rested it lightly against Iruka's chest and sighed. After a moment he tilted his head up and grasped at a strand of hair that had fallen from Iruka's ponytail. Tugging it slightly, and curling into an even smaller ball, Kakashi relaxed and fell into a well deserved sleep.

_**

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**_

"-ill looks like a brat. A little smaller than I remember, but still a brat."

"That's only because you've grown so much since you last saw him at this age. Packing on the dumplings while you 'train'? I know all about the springs, and those books."

"Eh, I just wanted to know if Kakashi-kun acted like this when he was little. If he's acting strange, maybe I should just let you take him, Jiraiya-san?"

"Hell. No. I already had to watch him, might as well spread the agony."

"Besides, Iruka-kun, I gave you this mission. You can't just hand it over to this pervert."

"What!"

Kakashi woke up at the familiar voices speaking and yelling, rubbing his eye tiredly as he pushed against the surface he was laying on. Feeling a smooth surface under him shocked the small jounin out of his drowsy state and he looked around the area. "Ruka?" He asked quietly, drawing the attention of the room's occupants solely onto himself.

"See? He's already attached to you." A large man with white hair proudly said, gesturing to the child, "Once that happens you'll never get him to leave you alone." Walking over to the hokage's desk, for that was where Kakashi had been sleeping, a huge paw reached down and ruffled the bushy head of hair. "Ain't that right, brat?"

Kakashi smiled, "Pervert." He chirped, reaching his hands up to grasp at the large hand resting on his head, giggling at Jiraiya.

Tsunade wisely covered the smile plastered on her face and quelled the urge to burst out laughing. "He's a pretty smart kid. He already knows what you're known for, Jiraiya." The hokage spared a sneaky glance towards Iruka, seeing how he reacted. If all was going well, her plan would have already been started.

Plan 'Get-incredibly-cute-chunin-together-with-moody-hot-jounin" would commence. Maybe Iruka would build up some sort of affection for Kakashi and when he got older, and considerably less cute and more handsome, the chunin would act upon these feelings. Not that she was a romantic sap or anything like that. She was only doing this for the wellbeing of her village.

Besides, Tsunade had to do something in her spare time, ever since Shizune had forbid her from gambling. So what if she accidentally lost half of the academy in a bad hand. She won it back after 'accidentally' seeing the cards of the other players in the next game. AKA, when she knocked out the other players and stole back the property contract.

Hearing a dark chuckle, Iruka turned and stared, slightly nervous, at the hokage as she rubbed her hands menacingly in front of her body. She always looked like that when she was about to do something devious, which meant trouble for the rest of the village.

He felt sorry for the shmuck that would be trapped in her scheming web of trickery.

"Ruka?" A tug at his pants caused the chunin to look down and see Kakashi standing next to him, hand firmly gripping the fabric. Iruka smiled down at the jounin but frowned slightly when he noticed that Kakashi was still holding Jiraiya's hand.

"What is it, Kakashi-kun?" Iruka said, crouching down so that he was eye level with the boy. He wasn't jealous of Jiraiya, per se, but did Kakashi have to hold the other man's hand so tightly? He was only thinking of the child's highly impressionable mind with the known pervert. He didn't want Kakashi getting any ideas.

Jiraiya laughed, withdrawing his hand from Kakashi's and settling it on his head to give a quick rub. "Ah, the little snot is fine, Iruka-kun." The older man smiled, "Whatever you want to know about him I guess I can tell you about tomorrow. Unless, of course, I'm doing research..." A bright blush stained the man's ruddy features.

Ducking down to grab the boy and huddle him next to his chest, Iruka nodded and swallowed the nervous lump in his throat, resisting the urge to go into lecture mode and reprimand the lecherous man. "Um...Thank you Jiraiya-sama." He turned to look at Tsunade, watched her as she drew plans in mid-air before her while she continued to laugh with herself, for there was a shadow clone nearby that was helping the Gondaime, "Is Tsunade-sama going to be alright?"

"Oh, she'll be fine, the old bat." Jiraiya said, turning towards the woman and resting his closed fists on his hips. "You get out of here with the brat and get some sleep. He's almost dead on his feet as it is." A wink aimed in his direction, "I thought you would have taken care of him a little better, sensei."

"Ruka, nice!" A childish retort was yelled from the child, Kakashi's face turning red from his anger, making sure he put extra energy and anger behind his next word. "Pervert!"

Jiraiya and Iruka both paused, it finally sinking in that Kakashi was actually calling Jiraiya a pervert, not using the word as a term of endearment as it had been used by the child before. Jiraiya seemed proud of the fact, his ample chest already puffing out from the extra recognition. The thought of bringing Kakashi-kun with him on a bath-raid flashed through his mind, but the sannin decided it would be better to wait a while until he grew up.

Iruka, well, Iruka was mortified.

The chunin sensei bowed quickly, his face alternating between flushing and paling as he moved towards the door. And without another look at two of the legendary sannin, Iruka bolted out the door and ran the rest of his way to his house.

Jiraiya turned and smiled at Tsunade as she dismissed her clone, cracking his back when he stretched. "I don't know what you're trying to do, Iruka seems mentally stable enough, but if you think he needs a soul mate..."

"No, no, this is all for Kakashi." The Gondaime said, smiling as she sat down on her desk and wiped away a small puddle of drool that had formed from Kakashi sleeping on the surface, grimacing and shaking her hand to get rid of any excess droplets. "He needs someone to look after him."

"But I thought you said he would get older, like the report said?"

A shrug of the shoulders was his answer, Tsunade tapping her nails on her desk. "I might have messed it up just a little bit." She smiled sheepishly, "But not too bad. I think he'll change back."

"That's great; I'll pretend I didn't hear this. Just what I need, more babysitting."

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Iruka stared at the front of his small house in amazement. In front of the door was a pile of clothing, a pile of children's clothing. It seemed that Kakashi's 'little' adventures got out to the rest of the female population.

With that thought Iruka glanced around his house, searching the trees and the bushes for any sudden ambushes. Finding none, and Kakashi getting heavier every moment, the chunin stepped over the pile and shoved his key into the lock. Sighing in relief when the lock clicked open, he stumbled in and almost tripped on the cat.

"Tootsie-chan, I'll get you food in a moment." Iruka said, sprawled out on his back with Kakashi firmly gripped to his chest, the feline attempting to walk over the small jounin to approach her master. "I just need-" Pushing her small body off, Iruka sat up and placed Kakashi on the ground before he stood and dragged the clothing inside and closed the door.

Turning back he watched deadpan as his cat licked at the exposed skin on the child's face, purring all the while. Kakashi giggled in his sleep and rolled over, almost squashing the animal in his actions. Scratching behind her ears, Iruka strode over the couple and walked into the kitchen, hoping to spy what time it really was and to hopefully get some coffee. Yes, he'd be up for the rest of the night, but maybe everything would finally make sense.

Turning on the coffee maker, a god upon itself, Iruka looked down when he felt a warm object brush against his leg. Thinking it was the cat, he bent slightly and rubbed hand briskly down the feline's back, pausing slightly when the soft fur turned into rough material. With a horrified expression on his face, Iruka glanced down to confirm his suspicions.

Kakashi stared up, his eyes narrowed into slits as he smiled underneath his mask, before attempting to make a purring noise in his throat. When that failed, miserably, he rubbed his head against Iruka's leg again and sat down on the ground. "Meow." He yowled in a pretty good imitation of the cat that was lying on the floor next to him, basking in the company of her owner.

"Are you okay, Kakashi-kun?" Iruka asked, suddenly aware of how awkward this would be if the jounin was older.

The boy looked up and the expression on his face melted away to be replaced with one of irritation. "Ruka, I'm a kitty cat! Meow!" He continued his meowing, crawling on his hands and knees into the living room to examine the pile of clothing.

Deciding that he wouldn't wander off, Iruka sighed in relief as he noticed that the coffee was done. A little late, since he had to experience the small hellion who was grating on his nerves, but the thought of fresh caffeine in his system made the chunin smile as he poured himself a new cup.

Iruka wandered into the other room while carefully avoiding stepping on his cat that made up her mind to go scampering into the other room. Tootsie carefully batted the clothing, made sure it wouldn't attack her, before jumping up on top of the pile where Kakashi was.

Curled up into a ball, the one eye of the jounin watched as Iruka leaned against the wall to gaze at him. He yawned and shifted his position slightly to become more comfortable and leaned over against the body of the feline, who was also curling up.

"Hey, hey, you guys can't sleep there!" Iruka said, striding over to actually look at the donations for the 'chibi Kakashi' cause. At his approaching form the cat jumped down and threaded herself through his legs, purring and attempting to try and drink his coffee. Kakashi, on the other hand, was actually asleep as opposed to Tootsie's dozing.

Sighing, and leaving his coffee on a low enough table so his cat could steal a few sips, Iruka walked towards the pile and picked up the child. Wrapping his hands around Kakashi's waist, the chunin picked up the boy that remained in his curled up position even as Iruka moved him next to him on his couch.

Ignoring the small body next to him who was determined to snuggle his way into his lap, Iruka slowly began to examine the clothes. Some were nice...way too dressy for Kakashi to wear, especially since Iruka knew his team was going to come over and possibly squeeze the boy to death. Well, not his team, more like Sakura squeezing her sensei to death.

The chunin pulled out a pair of shorts and promptly threw them in the reject pile. It was winter almost and it might actually snow this year; what were these ladies thinking? Yes, they were quite cute, he supposed, but he would not allow the jounin to wear them if he had anything to say about it.

Reject pile growing at fairly quick rate; mostly due to size and general wear of the garments, Iruka stumbled upon something he didn't think he'd ever see in his house. He studied it for a moment, wondering if he was just seeing things, surely a woman wouldn't send this to him with the fact that he was taking care of a little _boy_.

Clutched in his hand was a dress. A frilly monstrosity that seemed to be a most sickening shade of pale blue, covered in bows that hung droopily off the fabric. The sequins added a nice touch, as did the pair of gloves attached to it by a pin, but _what type of women would put this in the donation pile?_

Iruka continued to gaze at it, unable to understand why it was in his house, in a pile of clothing for a small _boy_, so he didn't feel the shifting that occurred at his side. So caught was he in the miracle known as 'children's unisex outfits' that he failed to notice his surroundings, which every good ninja should do when they're taking care of children.

"Pretty."

Ripping his gaze from the dress, Iruka glanced down at Kakashi, who had woken up when Iruka stopped sorting. Before the boy could properly remember the gown, Iruka stuffed it underneath the reject pile and leaned back into the couch. Scratching his cat under her chin from where she sat on the back of the couch, Iruka rested a hand on the small boy's back.

"Kakashi-kun, go back to sleep. Let's wait until you're older to talk about this."

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**Author's Notes**

Yes, I did not have more of Ibiki and the 'incident', as it shall now be known as. Be prepared for Gai in the next chapter or two.

The incident with the dress is something that Ryan went through only with bras. He didn't understand that they are only for girls and not for little boys. So cute.

As always, review. It makes me happy.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

I had a very hard time thinking about what I should do in the next sequence of this story, going to many of my friends and asking their opinions. The question: Should I make Kakashi age, like Iruka did in the prequel to this story, _"Plastic Ponies"_? Or should I keep him as a chibi for the long haul?

Finally a wise friend advised me, and I quote, "It's your story, J-Chan, do what you want from it. ... But I have a perverse need to see Iruka get tied up by Kakashi at some point. You can work that out in any of his ages, right?"

So, after much debating on this answer, I finally figured out how Kakashi will "age", since so many people seem keen on this, a.k.a. the people in my house who read it but decide to never leave a review. Yes, I mean you Adam.

Wow, these author's notes are long, but now that I've figured everything out, which will probably create plot holes for me to fill, just sit back and enjoy this chapter.

**_HOMGI'MALINE!_**

Iruka began to wonder what he did to deserve this torture. It was three in the morning. He had finally gotten Kakashi into bed without falling for the boy's crocodile tears. He had even finally slumped into his own bed, at the pleading of Kakashi, and fallen asleep on the edge of the mattress so he didn't actually touch the little hellion who was blissfully asleep next to him. 

He was going to kill whoever decided it would be a good idea to bang on his door. In a civilian area. Being very, very loud. Where the neighbors did not care if you were a ninja, they would kill you anyways for disturbing their sleep.

Making a quick choice, especially after he spotted a light flickering on across the street, Iruka yanked open the door and grabbed the person, not even noting who it was before slamming the door closed with a little unneeded force. Turning to yell at the person for making such a racket, it did not matter he was going to make as much noise, the chunin sensei began to think he should have checked who it was he let into his home

"Greeting, Iruka-sensei! I see you are unmoving in the Springtime of Your Youth!" Gai said, striking Pose #16, the most honed of all the poses, complete with Hip Thrust and Gleaming Smile.

Iruka felt sick.

The jounin ignored the other man's sudden paleness and planted his feet shoulder width apart and rested his fisted hands lightly on his hips, seamlessly merging into Pose #83. "One should always take pleasure from their Youth while they still have time to bask in its untold Glory!"

Maybe if he just started backing away slowly, grabbed Kakashi, who was hopefully still asleep, and jumped out the window in a daring escape, perhaps the Green Beast of Konoha would not realize he was missing?

"But, alas, it is not my purpose of coming here into your home to bask in your Magnificent Energy for Life, for I have a mission!" Gai stopped talking for a moment and Iruka began to hope that maybe it was a stroke. It had to harm to human body to talk in so much capitalization all the time. The only thing that warned Iruka that this was only going to get worse was the huge grin that blossomed on the other man's face.

"Eternal Rival! I have come to challenge you!" Issued from Gai's gaping mouth, along with a flash of his trademark Sparkle of Virility from his strong, white teeth. "For I have heard from a reliable source that you are at the Tender Age of Youthfulness where you might believe that you can best me, the current leader in our Prolific Rivalry! I will have to illuminate your Infantile Mind to my enormous capabilities."

Iruka turned and felt his bubble of hope burst at seeing the still-young Kakashi leaning drowsily on the wall, a blanket wrapped around his small frame to fight off the chill that had seeped through the door when it was open for that short period. Now it would be even harder to get rid of Gai since he had seen his comrade, albeit a little shorter than usual. Iruka probably wouldn't get Gai to leave until he received an acceptance from the sleepy eyed child.

"Ano…Ruka…It's noisy…" The child said, his words coming out thick and slightly slurred. For a moment, Iruka thought Kakashi was going to burst out crying, but instead he gazed at the sensei with a mournful look and whimpered lightly. "Wanna hug…"

Iruka crouched and waited for Kakashi to stumble over, the blanket dragging on the floor to be eventually dropped when the boy lifted his arms to wrap around the adult's neck. "This is a good friend of yours, Kakashi-kun. He has to ask you something very important, and I want you to answer his question." Iruka explained to the child, raising his voice so that he would keep the toddler's attention, since Kakashi was attempting to doze off back into his interrupted sleep.

_'Just answer his question so Gai will just get out of my house. It's bad enough I have to deal with one jounin at a time, I'm not going to let my house just turn into a dumping ground for them…'_

"Callow schoolboy known as my Eternal Rival Hatake Kakashi!" Gai began, whipping his hair back from his forehead with Nonchalant Movement #37 combined with the ever reliable Good Guy Thumbs-Up, "I Challenge you to a Vitalizing Bout of Masculinity!" His finger quivered in its position, pointing straight at the boy who was, no doubt about it, snuggling into the chest of Iruka-sensei.

"No."

Iruka winced when Gai flew backwards, as if the word uttered from Kakashi was an actual blow. All pity from the spandex clothed man vanished, though, when he started to weep theatrically on the floor.

"Your Tepid response is so Hip and Youthful!" Gai declared, kneeling on the floor and gazing up at Kakashi with what could only be adoration.

Hugging the child closer without realizing it, Iruka glared down at Gai with the sinking feeling that those tears were of happiness and not misery as he first thought. The few times he had met Gai, Iruka always believed everyone was kidding about him being slightly…_odd_. The jounin always seemed normal enough when they talked about basic things, like the weather, whenever the jounin handing in his mission reports. But now, now all the stories told to Iruka over tea, lunch, mission scrolls, and bowls of ramen came flooding back.

His eyebrow ticked.

"Gai-sensei…I think it would be best for you to leave…" He said clearly, feeling as if he said anything wrong, anything at all, that he would be stuck trying to pry Gai-sensei off the floor until the sun rose, when the man would suddenly whisk himself off to further training. "If you don't go right now, Kakashi won't be rested enough to give his all in your challenge."

_'I guess that means we have to see Gai tomorrow.' _Iruka sighed, hugging the boy he was holding closer to his chest,_ 'So much for my first day off of forced-vacation, now I have to figure out if Naruto and the other two can come over and watch Kakashi. I want to see Jiraiya and ask him a couple of things about Kakashi's past…'_

Pulling himself from his thought, Iruka blinked at Gai. Abruptly, the man stopped a speech that Iruka had not noticed he had started; Gai stared up from his spot on the floor. Then he was standing and at the door and flashing another blinding smile. Iruka could now tell that it was the well-known Smile of Leaving #4.

The moment the door closed Iruka let out a big huff of breath, leaning against the wall. If he moved right now and tucked Kakashi into bed, which sounded strange even in his ears, they might get a couple more hours of sleep before this whole challenge nonsense could be sorted out.

"Ruka, I don't want to…" Kakashi said quietly, toying with a button on Iruka's shirt as they walked back into the room. "You won't make me, will you?" He asked, looking up at his guardian for the next few days.

The chunin sighed and ruffled the child's hair, leaned against the headboard for a second as he arranged the blankets around the small body. "I won't make you, I just want you to humor Gai-sensei for an hour or two. Oh, and you have to win this silly challenge of his so he'll maybe leave you alone for the rest of the week."

Kakashi nodded and relaxed against the pillow, closing his eye, "I'll win…"

Iruka smiled and moved back, feeling a strong affection for the child lying in his bed. _'If only he was like this when he gets older.'_ He frowned at this thought, moving to the door to flick off the light switch. Why did he have a suspicion that Kakashi was going to be older? Shrugging, he reclined on the mattress and felt the already familiar weight roll over to curl next to his larger body.

Just as he was about to drift back into a hopefully dreamless sleep he felt a light tug on a strand of hair. "Ruka, what does 'humor' mean?"

And he smiled.

**_HOMGI'MALINE! _**

Pacing in front of the door, Iruka began to re-think his plan. Looking over his shoulder, and spotting the sun rising, the chunin was about to turn around and go straight home except that the doorway in front of his that he had been contemplating for the last few hours was suddenly occupied by the body of Jiraiya. 

"What do you want?" The sanin rumbled, rubbing the last bit of sleep from his eyes. "It's only six in the morning and I've felt your chakra running around out here for the last twenty minutes."

The younger male looked at the wall for a moment before turning and swallowing a lump that suddenly formed in his throat. "I don't think I should take care of Kakashi anymore."

Sensing the stress coming off the brunette in waves, Jiraiya turned slightly and walked back into his house, "I'll get some tea started, but you have to tell me what the brat did this time." He sighed, moving over to the small kitchen, watching the other man slowly come inside and slip his sandals off. "Kakashi never seemed like a bad kid when he was little, a bit quiet but never bad."

He smiled when Iruka's head jerked up, laughing throatily. "Obviously, you think you can't take care of the boy, well, I've heard a lot of people say that in the past. What should make you any different?" Jiraiya moved over to the low table and set a cup in front of the dazed teacher, taking a chair nearby, "What is it that's shaken you up so much?"

Iruka shrugged, cradling the cup of tea in between his hands, "I just don't think I should be watching him. He's so small and innocent and what if he gets hurt? Won't that be my fault? Will he hate me when he gets older? What if he doesn't get older? What if he stays like this for the rest of his life?" The man continued with a few more choice words, seeming to ignore the sanin as he talked about the young boy in his care.

Jiraiya watched as the chunin ranted, going on tangents and such, he, meanwhile, filled his teacup. "So, where is Kakashi?" He asked quietly, stirring his cup to dissolve the sugar cube he had plopped into the brown liquid.

"At my house." Iruka's brow furrowed, his eyes taking on the frightened look of a deer. "I don't know if I can go back."

"Why not?" With a grunt the larger man heaved himself off of his seat, walking into the stove to re-fill the teapot with water. "What did Kakashi do to you to drive you out? I always remembered him as a quiet kid. A little strange with his habit to stare a little to intensely, but a good kid."

"I think it was my fault…"

The white haired man raised an eyebrow at this phrase, wondering what the chunin wanted to blame on himself this time.

"I woke up and there was blood everywhere." The brunette's hands found a way to tangle themselves in his hair, pulling slightly.

Jiraiya stared at Iruka for a moment, feeling the unease of the other man, racking his brain for a way to tell the chunin what he knew. Striding back into the room, he settled his bulk back into his chair and placed his small cup of tea on the table.

"As you know, Iruka-sensei, I remember a lot of things about Kakashi from when he was little, since I was good friends with his father."

Iruka nodded, swallowing at the mention of Kakashi's father, the White Fang of Konoha. He shifted forward, hoping that Jiraiya would shed some light of the disturbing event that had happened earlier in the morning, the reason why he was even seeking help from the older man.

The sanin cleared his throat and leaned forward, motioning for Iruka to do also. Feeling as if he was about to receive information that would change his view of the mysterious jounin, Iruka moved slightly, glancing out the window to see if anyone was passing by this early in the morning.

"Kakashi always used to get nosebleeds. They only stopped when he turned twelve." Jiraiya leaned back in his chair, leaving the chunin leaning over the table, "I think that was because one of his teammates punched him in the face. Very messy."

Feeling his face go slack from embarrassment and shock, Iruka suddenly leapt up from his chair and run out the door, leaving behind a chuckling Jiraiya.

"He'll be back in a minute or two." He commented to the thin air, taking a sip from his lukewarm tea. "He'll want to know more about the hellion as he gets older." He spared a glance at his open door, still swinging in the violence of Iruka's leaving. "Also, he forgot his shoes."

**_HOMGI'MALINE! _**

"Iruka-sensei? Are you here? Can we come-Naruto! Don't just open the door!" 

"But it was open…"

After a few well-placed blows, and extremely loud shushing, the three genin slowly crept into the house of their old teacher. This was better than the Class D Missions that Tsunade had decided to assign them when their current teacher was changed into that of a three year-old.

Sakura crept in the door, her bright pink hair ruining all attempts at stealth she would have hoped for. "Iruka-sensei? Hello?" Her hand left the doorknob as she toed off her shoes, manners still important even if she was, technically, breaking and entering. Forgetting about her teammates for the moment, the lone female continued on her trek into the house.

She was almost to the kitchen, studying the remains of what could have been toast, when she heard the gasp followed by a quiet giggle. Turning slowly so that she wouldn't alert the environment of her moving, Sakura laid eyes on the one thing that would ruin their newly appointed mission.

"What are you doing?" She whispered ferociously, stomping back to grab Naruto by the ear, dragging him from the lip lock he had been in with Sasuke. She ignored the glare from the other boy as she pulled the blonde behind her, away from the doorway where he had been pressed against quite gladly.

"What if Iruka-sensei came in right then?" Sakura growled as she ignored Naruto's attempts to redeem himself. "What would you have done?"

The boy rubbed the back of his head and ducked his body in a semi-bow. "Sakura-chan, I think Iruka-sensei understand what me and Sasuke are doing…"

"Making out on his front doorstep?" She said wryly, crossing her arms as she glared at Sasuke. It seemed she was more disappointed in the Uchiha making out with Naruto in the open without closing the door than the choice in his partner.

Ignoring the answer, since a very small portion of it was aimed towards him, at least that's what he assumed, Naruto walked into the kitchen. Glancing at the table, and finding nothing to eat, the chunin moved over to the refrigerator with mild interest. Opening the appliance and finding nothing to eat, as in no ramen, he sighed and leaned against the wall, jumping when he felt a warm body curl itself around his legs.

"What if somebody else saw you two? It would have been scandal of the foulest sort!" Sasuke ignored Sakura as she continued to rant about everything that could have gone wrong in the few moments the two boys had been in a romantic position.

She paused, forgetting about her lecture for the moment as a cat came prancing over to her, meowing playfully. "Naruto, when did Iruka-sensei get a cat?" She pushed her hair back and crouched on the ground, holding a hand out for the animal to smell.

"He's had that thing for a while." The blonde answered, slouching against the wall again when the thought of 'no food' hit his thought process again. "Don't remember what its name is…Something-chan. I usually just call it stupid."

Sakura was slightly amused when the cat had almost an identical glare as her as the two glared at the boy. "Naruto, you're obviously not as mature as Sasuke." As if saying the boy's name snapped her out of petting the cat, she intensified her glare at Naruto.

"You both could have mentally scared Kakashi-sensei!"

At the mentioning of their teacher the girl brightened, forgetting about her lecture yet again as she clasped her hands in front of her body, getting up from the floor and abandoning a disgruntled cat. "Where is Kakashi-kun? Do you think Iruka-sensei left him here?"

She giggled and ran into the living room, hoping for the little boy to suddenly appear, waiting for her. A sigh left her lips as the empty room, no trace of chakra apparent, came into focus. As she was about to turn around the front door burst open to reveal a panting Iruka.

He glanced around his house; suspicions roused from his front door being unlocked, and spotted his three past students automatically. A yowl from Tootsie-chan told him everything he needed to know, watching as the feline sprawled herself near her food bowl, abandoning the students who wouldn't even feed her. Walking in, and closing the door behind him, Iruka wondered why his day off just seemed to be getting more complex.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto said, jumping out from the kitchen to give his teacher the usual hug, "Are you going to take me out for ramen? Cause the only thing you have in your house is toast!" Sakura pulled him away suddenly,

"That would mean he has bread, Naruto. Toast comes from bread." She stopped and looked at the flushed face of Iruka, giving him a once over. "Iruka-sensei…Where are your shoes?"

Said teacher flushed and glanced down at his feet to see that, yes, he did not currently have shoes. "I think I left them at Jiraiya's…But I had to come back and make sure that Kakashi-kun was okay." He scratched the back of his head but stopped as something came to mind, "Where is Sasuke?"

Sakura huffed and Naruto looked a little guilty. "Ano, I think he might be looking around your house for Kakashi-sensei. We haven't seen him yet and Sasuke-teme wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible so we could-" The teenager abruptly stopped, face blushing a strange tomato mixture.

"Go for ramen…" Sasuke said sullenly from the hallway, his eyes half lidded as he barely attempted to conceal his boredom, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"I'm sure we can all go for ramen after this, even Kakashi-kun, when we find him." Said Iruka hastily after Sakura glared at Naruto threateningly, her eyes holding more pain in store for the blonde than normal. _'Maybe he made fun of her forehead?'_ Iruka thought, wondering what could make Sakura so bloodthirsty towards Naruto.

He sighed when he remember that Sasuke and Naruto were an item now. The faster he found Kakashi, the better. Ramen solved most problems in Konoha, so maybe it would tone down the feeling of anger coming from the pink-haired girl.

Naruto huffed and moved a tad farther away from Sakura, "We don't know where he is, Iruka-sensei. We looked in the kitchen, the living room…I think Sasuke checked the bedroom." A quick glance to the other teenager received a nod. "Where else could he be?"

Kneading the bridge of his nose, and fighting off a bigger headache than the one Gai gave him, Iruka sat down on his couch. "Did you check the cupboards? He is only three, and is pretty small. He probably is hiding and having a great time laughing and waiting for us to find the little brat."

Sakura bit her tongue, wondering if Kakashi was even that age anymore. She looked at her teammates and saw the same flash of thought cross their features. If Kakashi is undergoing the same thing as Iruka did four years ago, would he still be only three years old? And he did graduate early so didn't that make him a lot more dangerous than Iruka was when he was little since the jounin might be growing older?

She glanced at the closet in the hallway as Naruto and Sasuke wandered into the kitchen to help Iruka check all of the cabinets. As she walked over to the doorway she heard a slight bump from inside, confirming her thoughts of Kakashi-sensei possibly being inside.

"Iruka-sensei?" Sakura whispered as quietly as she could, motioning for the teacher to come over. "I hear something in the closet. Could it be Kakashi-sensei?" The girl ignored Tootsie as she twined around her legs, trying to bring attention to the fact that her food bowl was still empty. Even the feline was quieter than normal, as if understanding that something was wrong.

Naruto grabbed the doorknob and turned it quietly and whipped the door open, revealing the inner realm of the closet to the other three people.

To show nothing. Well, except the normal towels folded neatly in a pile on each shelf. There were also a couple of brooms and a dustpan, and holiday decorations shoved into the upper recesses of the little space, but the three teenagers couldn't help but feel disappointed from the lack of climax.

"Are you sure you heard something, Sakura?" Iruka said kindly, smiling down at the teenager who was still looking into the crawl space.

"He's there."

Three pairs of eyes turned to Sasuke, who was pointing near the top of the closet. Seeing his hand, Naruto, Iruka and Sakura all turned again to stare at the shape nestled on the top shelf in the closet. The grey hair was familiar, it seemed as if it really was natural, and the slouched position hadn't changed either. But the single blue eye had changed.

Sitting on the shelf, knees pulled up to his chest, Kakashi held a snow globe loosely in between his hands. His head rested on his legs and the mask covering the bottom half of his face pulled taunt.

"Kakashi-kun, you shouldn't be up there." Iruka said, moving into the closet to try and reach the child. "You might get hurt. And why are you sulking up here anyway, I'm still going to make you keep your promise to Gai." Naruto and his teammates flinched behind Iruka at the mentioning of the green spandex clothed man but their eyes kept trained on their sensei, who had to be older since no three year old they knew could climb that high.

The child's head rose slowly, gazing down at the chunin sensei with his single visible eye before turning back to the globe held in his hands, giving it a swift shake so that the little particles of white created a dizzying backdrop for the little house trapped inside. "Promises are silly…what's the point of them when you know someone is always going to lie when they say 'I promise'?"

Kakashi frowned as he shook the snow globe harder, his eye narrowing. "Stupid promise."

**_HOMGI'MALINE! _**

**Author's Notes**

Posting the next chapter might take a while; I'm still getting used to become a college student. Wish me luck, and hopefully I'll get the next installation in before Halloween. That's a whole month; hopefully I can type between classes.

And you've also robably noticed my very crappy lines, since the formatting has finally gotten to me. Yeah...Ignore the poor excuses for line sand just read the story.

As always, review! Keeps me happy and writing!


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Be proud of me, I did well! I got a chapter out in only two weeks, I finished my midterms, I got a job and I am now on a competitive horseback riding team. How do I manage all of this, you ask?

No clue. But now you know that if I don't post it means I died from being too "involved" on campus.

----------

Iruka glared at the child sitting across from him, stabbing his chopsticks into his breakfast of ramen. Of course, Naruto was the reason they had been able to get the brat out of the closet, so it made sense to let the blonde pick where they were going to eat breakfast. The chunin glanced over at the rest of Team Seven, smiling at the three before looking back at their teacher. The frown came back.

"You better eat, Kakashi-kun. If you don't, you're going to be hungry later on." Iruka said, sighing when the little boy continued to poke at his food and ignore his surroundings.

He hated to admit it, but Kakashi was adorable right now, with his face propped up on one hand as the other stirred the bowl of noodles in front of him. The mask covering his lower face and the headband made Iruka smile, as if Kakashi had been caught playing ninja dress-up.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei?" A yell from a few feet away tore Iruka out of his musings back to his favorite student, "Where are we going?"

"Well, I have to go back to Jiraiya's to get my sandals," Iruka noted that there was no longer a gleeful cry of joy from Kakashi when he said the sanin's name, "And then Kakashi-kun said that he would have a training battle with Gai this morning."

"Oh, can we watch, Iruka-sensei?" Sakura said, placing her finished bowl to the side of Naruto's huge tower, "I want to see how Kakashi-sensei fought when he was little."

Naruto agreed with a whoop of joy and Sasuke gave a small smirk, meaning he was also ecstatic at the opportunity to learn more about a possible way to beat their sensei. Iruka nodded and turned back around to see another empty bowl of ramen next to the pile, a pair of chopsticks folded neatly on top.

Smiling to himself, Iruka stood up and stretched, waiting for the rest of his 'students' to follow. Walking down the road, hands stuffed into his pockets, Iruka listened with half an ear as the children chatted amongst themselves behind him, a large percentage of his attention focused on greeting the people, mostly mothers and other students, who came up to him to say hello.

"Shut up!"

Spinning around at the violence in the voice, Iruka watched in shock as Naruto forcibly held Kakashi back, while Sakura and Sasuke looked at Anko with confused expressions. The little boy quickly rolled into a ball, kicked his feet out and caught Naruto on the shin, causing the boy to let him go with a wince. Before anyone could stop him, a kunai was in Kakashi's hand and he was throwing it with deadly accuracy towards the kunoichi.

Jumping back, Anko quickly blocked with her own weapon, but dropped it and shook her hands as the reverberations traveled up her arm. A crowd was gathering, wondering what could cause such a commotion this early in the morning. Before they could come to any conclusions, a log was in the place where one Mitarashi Anko had been, and a hand was clamped around the wrist of a fuming child.

"Man, if I knew he was going to flip I would have brushed up a little more on my survival exercises." Anko said cheerfully from a tree, grinning down at the teenagers and the chunin who currently had his hands full with a struggling child.

"I'm going to kill you!" Kakashi screamed; his little lungs were probably on fire from the volume of his voice. "I'm going to rip out your-" Iruka quickly clamped a hand over the boy's mouth, a bit shocked at the livid look he got from the child. The teacher didn't think it was possible for the much anger to be in a child that young.

"Naruto, what did Anko say?" Iruka asked while ignoring the pinpricks of pain he had in his hand from Kakashi biting him. It seemed that Kakashi still knew how to bite through his mask.

Naruto shrugged, looking more confused. "I don't get it. All she said was that Kakashi-sensei looked a lot like his dad." Kakashi struggled harder after Naruto finished talking, his single eye somehow narrowing even more.

Anko continued to laugh, perched out on a limb. His eyes snapping onto her, Iruka changed his stance so that he could easily hold Kakashi with one hand, meaning he had his arm wrapped around the boy's head and had his smaller body shoved against his side. "Anko, you had better explain."

"She doesn't have to." Everyone, including the spectators, turned to stare as Jiraiya come out from the fold, a pad of paper in his hand as he edited 'notes', the term used very loosely. "I'll explain it all, after we get to my house." He looked at the crowd of civilians, "Go on, shoo!" He waved them away with his hand.

The man turned back to the small group and glared at Anko once, smirking in self-satisfaction when the woman gave an 'eep' and teleported with a poof of smoke. His gaze then settled on the child shoved against Iruka, a flash of pain seemed to flash through his eyes but it was quickly covered by his normal, lecherous smile. "Hello, this looks like someone I know. Strange." He said while winking at Naruto when the teenager was about to burst into a comment. "Iruka-sensei, do I know who this is?"

"Jiraiya-san, I really don't see what this is going to do." Iruka said; ignoring the pain he was getting in his abdomen from the little hellion digging his elbow in between his ribs.

"Trust me. He'll be fine." Jiraiya said, a grin tugging at his weathered lips.

"Now come here, Kashi-kun." Jiraiya then cooed softly, crouching on the ground so that he could look at the boy. The jounin struggled for a moment, an animal caught in a trap, before he collapsed against Iruka's hip. The sanin looked up at Iruka and nodded, "You can let him go, Iruka-sensei. I don't think he's going to run, and if he does, I'm pretty sure we can catch him."

Releasing his hands slowly, afraid the boy was going to suddenly bolt; Iruka almost flinched at the speed in which Kakashi ran towards the older man. Team Seven did flinch, falling over themselves. Apparently they didn't know their teacher could move that fast, he was quite laid back with them most of the time, very different from the bundle of emotional energy that the jounin currently was.

Slamming into Jiraiya's chest, Kakashi would have bounced right back off if it weren't for the bear-like arms that wrapped around the small body. Mumbling softly to the boy, the man stood up from the ground, cradling the body against his own. "Let's get going. I have a feeling that Kashi-kun will be a little calmer after a cup of tea."

"I hate tea…" Was muttered from the smaller figure and Jiraiya laughed, ruffling the bush of grey hair affectionately.

And for a single moment, Iruka felt jealous.

----------

Sitting at a table, everyone with a cup filled with some sort of tea, except Kakashi who had water, Jiraiya beamed as he signed something on a piece of paper with a flourish. "Well now that that's done, I can finally get onto the important stuff."

"We've been sitting here for over an hour, pervert!" Naruto howled, only to be hit by Sakura and Sasuke at the same time. His glass tipped over onto the surface, a trail of liquid trailing itself over the wood.

Kakashi followed the river of tea for a moment with his eyes, showing unnecessary concentration, before placing a napkin strategically at the end of the table. The jounin then rested his head on his crossed arms, continuing to follow the trickle, his feet firmly on the ground as he crouched to be even with the low table.

He scowled darkly when Sakura took a different napkin and wiped up the mess without a second thought.

"See, you shouldn't have done that."

"What?"

"Now he's going to-" The clink of a cup falling over, this time Iruka's, accompanied by a muffled yell at the child, "Try to redo it. Damn strategy lessons." Jiraiya said wearily, resting his head on his hand to watch the intense concentration of the small child.

Team Seven watched as their teacher resumed his crouched position, his single eye watching the liquid begin its journey across the table. Iruka growled in his throat as he reached for the teapot, hoping to actually finish a cup of tea before Kakashi ruthlessly stole his cup for use in his experiments.

"Don't do that." Kakashi said quietly, glancing up to catch Iruka's gaze and then returning to his tea watching.

The chunin shrugged slightly, it was strange how easily Kakashi changed moods, and grabbed the next available cup, which happened to be Kakashi's. Expecting to boy to yell, he was quite surprised when an eyeball rolled to look at his hand, dismissed the brunette's actions, and turned back to the more 'interesting' river of tea.

"Kakashi-sensei's a little weird…" Naruto grumbled, sipping his tea and giving a grimace when he tasted the liquid. He really didn't like tea. "Oi, Jiraiya, you said you were going to tell us about Kakashi-sensei-" Using the only piece of sense in his being, Naruto wisely stopped when Kakashi sat up and glared at him.

"Idiot." The child murmured before standing and picking up Iruka's cup that he had tipped over, placing it upright and wandering into the kitchen.

"He has a point." Sasuke said blandly, smirking at the blonde when he began to sputter. He leaned over and pecked Naruto on the cheek, settling back into his seat with a genuine smile, though small, on his lips. "But you're my idiot."

Naruto nodded dumbly, crawling around the table to settle himself into Sasuke's lap. He nuzzled under the other teenager's chin before allowing himself to collapse bonelessly into the Uchiha's embrace. A little sigh left his lips when Sasuke tightened his hold on him, resting his head on top of the blonde hair.

Iruka was battling with himself, should he stop the two or allow their young love to flourish?

Sakura was literally battling with herself. Her inner half wanted to scream in glee and watch every moment, her outer was trying to resist pulling them apart and proclaiming that Sasuke was hers!

Jiraiya was taking notes.

…Pervert.

Clicking his pen shut, the sanin stretched in a self-satisfied way and leaned backwards. "I'm sure you all want to know a little bit about Kakashi, since I have a feeling that everything you know about him wouldn't be able to fill a chapter in a book." He glanced at the students and laughed at their dumbfound expressions, "Come now, did you really think Kakashi would share his past with you three?"

Jiraiya chortled, crossing his arms over his stomach. "Even Iruka here doesn't know anything about Kakashi, and he's only a couple years younger, right sensei?" He glanced at the man sitting next to him, noticing how the chunin was keeping track of the small jounin even though he wasn't in the room, using his chakra to follow Kakashi wandering around the kitchen.

The scary thing was, Kakashi probably knew he was being watched, and he could most likely point out exactly who was doing the tracking.

"Let's see, I'm sure you all know about Kakashi being a genius, yes?" Nods all around, "He became a chunin at around six, sometime after his father…died. He hasn't quite gotten over his death yet, at least, that's what I could gather from his reaction…" Only Iruka grimly nodded in understanding this time. "Let me just say that when Kakashi was little, his main purpose in life was to be the best ninja and with the kid's calculating mind and his drive to succeed, the Hokage was forced to agree when he passed his academy final."

Sakura frowned, ignoring the couple next to her who were now rubbing noses. "But he's our teacher. I mean I know he was an ANBU, but 'the best ninja?' That sounds a little of a stretch from Kakashi-sensei." She shrugged, "Most of the time he's reading that stupid book and slouching around, trying to do the least work possible."

"It's not stupid." Jiraiya said, snapping his notebook closed and clutching it close to his chest like an offended schoolgirl. "Besides, the Kakashi you knew is different from the Kakashi you have right now. I would say he's about six right now… Already a chunin and on the fast pace to becoming a jounin."

"Cool, Kakashi-sensei was awesome!" Naruto proclaimed loudly, earning a glare from Sasuke, since he yelled into the Uchiha's ear.

"Wait, are you saying he's getting older?" Iruka asked, ignoring the blonde, his hands griping the table's smooth surface. "Tsunade didn't say anything about that."

"She probably didn't know." Running his hands through his long hair, Jiraiya looked towards the kitchen. "Kashi-kun, you can come out now."

The little boy walked out from the room and promptly glared at Iruka, sitting down next to him. "I don't need to be looked after." He said quietly, venom evident. Without waiting for an answer Kakashi turned to Jiraiya, "I want to go home. He has a cat."

The sanin laughed and stood up from the table, nodding for the others to do likewise. "Too bad, Kashi-kun. I'm sure Iruka can get someone to look after his cat. And besides, cats are cleaner than those dogs you have." He grinned when the jounin, who was now currently a chunin, stomped out the door, leaving behind his team and his guardian.

"Hope you have fun, Iruka." Jiraiya said happily as he shoved the team out of his house, winking at the flustered chunin as he handed him his pair of sandals. As he was about to close the door, shutting the four outside to search for Kakashi who had disappeared, he poked his head out and waved at the brunette sensei. "Just wait until he hits puberty." And then he slammed the door shut.

----------

"You have to do it."

"No."

"Kakashi-kun, think of it as training."

"Don't call me kun."

"Fine, fine, but you still need to see Gai."

"I train alone."

"You can tell that to him when you meet him."

"He won't listen."

"He might. Come on Kakashi, why don't you want to see Gai?"

"…His eyebrows are weird."

Iruka rubbed a finger lightly over his scarred nose, wondering who he made angry to deserve this. Team Seven had left him to run and get seats for the match, since there was surely going to be a crowd to watch the two rivals battle, and the chunin was beginning to wish that they had stayed just to help him convince their teacher to come with him. Currently he was standing upside down on his ceiling, glaring at Tootsie who was sitting comfortably in Iruka's lap.

"Kakashi, you have to go meet Gai or else he will go and find you. He only wants a training match." Iruka growled at the boy, absentmindedly petting the ball of cat. "Will it help to tell you that I will get rid of Tootsie-chan if you win?"

The boy crossed his arms and stared at the feline again, who yawned in his general direction,. His hair lifted from his face, since he was upside down, to show the baby fat still clinging to his cheeks. "Stupid cat."

"I'll take that as a yes." Iruka sighed, standing and dusting off his pants, ignoring the hiss he received from Tootsie at his sudden movement. "Let's get going. We don't want to keep Gai waiting." He walked out his house, closing the door and locking it behind him, pausing for a moment to wait for Kakashi to teleport next to him in a cloud of smoke.

The chunin walked down the street quietly, wondering what he could say to the child next to him. Because that is what Kakashi was in his eyes, still a child, even though he was technically the same rank as him. He turned when he heard Kakashi mutter something, blinking when three Kakashi's came into his line of sight.

"I hope you aren't trying to run away." He said, tiredly, wondering how worse his day could get.

Kakashi snorted, brushing past his watcher, "Chakra control. The more doppelgangers I keep, the stronger I get. And you're a teacher."

Deciding it was time to put the brat back into his place, Iruka did the only thing he knew would embarrass the aloof boy. He grabbed the real Kakashi's hand, this took a moment since all of the copies were very good, and started to drag him behind as he walked to the park.

Struggling silently for a moment, and scowling the entire time, the smaller chunin allowed himself a huge sigh.

"Now, now, Kakashi-_kun_." Iruka said, stressing the last part. "We don't want to be late to see Gai. He seemed so excited to see you last night."

Kakashi glared at the pony-tailed man's back, jerking his hand to see if the chunin had lightened his grip. He hadn't. Damn. "I don't want to see him. He's not even my rank yet and all he does is yell!"

Shaking his head at the petulant tone coming from in back of him, Iruka thought about what was just said, _'So, Kakashi doesn't remember anything from when he was younger. But he's getting older, and everyone else seems fine with that! They're not even worried that Kakashi might not grow up, or keep growing…Why do I have the feeling that I'm out of a giant loop?'_

"Iruka-sensei! You made it!" Naruto yelled happily, running over to his senseis with Sasuke tagging along, making less noise as usual. "We had to get here really early because Lee was telling everyone about the fight so everyone was coming, and we wanted to get good seats, so we had to fight for a couple of spots and Sakura almost flashed the crowd because someone grabbed her dress, and she turned so red that-"

Naruto stopped to draw in a huge breath but was stopped from continuing when Sasuke hit him on the head, a small smirk rising to his pale features. "Shut up, dobe."

The blonde grinned sheepishly before glancing back at Iruka and his charge. "Gai-sensei has been here since five, thinking up a fool-proof way to beat Kakashi-sensei." He grinned at his younger teacher, pointing with both hands, "You're going to get beat up!" He said happily, laughing and skipping off into the group of onlookers, leaving behind Sasuke who slouched in a pose similar to an older Kakashi's, before he turned and walked seamlessly into a clump of people passing.

Iruka shrugged at the strange behavior of his two students before looking down at the bush of grey hair. A reluctant smile tugged at his lips when he noticed that Kakashi had been stealthily moving closer to him as more people came to watch the event. Currently he was almost hugging Iruka's leg, his small hand still holding the older chunin's hand even though Iruka had forgotten about gripping tightly.

He was suddenly taken over by his teacher's instincts. Crouching down low so that he was level with Kakashi he ran his hair through the tangled ruff of grey on the boy's head. "You're going to do fine. I promise, Kakashi-kun."

It seemed Iruka's voice was meant to break the spell.

Kakashi jerked away from Iruka, pulling his hand out and crossing it in front of his chest. He scowled up at the older man and stepped into the crowd, walking, presumably, towards the empty circle in the middle.

The brunette sensei sighed and wove his way near his students, hoping they didn't see the exchange. _'Kakashi was even stranger when he was little.'_ Iruka thought to himself, dodging a paper kunai that was aimed at someone on the other end of the throng of people. _'I guess I get to see how strange he really was. Joy…'_

His eyes rested on the slight frame standing directly in the middle of the circle created by the multitude, back straight, looking bored but defenses firmly in place. _'Kakashi really is a perfect ninja…'_ Iruka smiled when the boy promptly sneezed, a scuffle in the front of the crowd was kicking up dirt, and the ninja was replaced, for a quick moment, with a six year old.

"Eternal rival! You have come to witness your own downfall!" A large, personality filled, most likely Gai, voice was suddenly heard, causing most of the horde to stop in their betting to look for the source of such melodic youthfulness.

The entire crowd watched in awe as Gai performed Pose #103 flawlessly before he did a front flip off of the telephone pole he had been standing on. A few brave souls clapped but were quickly silenced by their neighbors. It was bad enough they were watching the fight between rivals; they didn't need to encourage the Green Beast anymore than he already was.

"And this was how you shall fail!" And with that, Gai, jounin of Konohagakue, the village of the hidden leaf, hurled a pack of gum at the grey haired six-year old.

The challenge had been made.

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**End Notes**

What is up with that Gai? He is so youthful! Mmm, I'm tired from work.

Review! The more you review, the quicker I write because it shows you guys actually want to read what happens. So, yeah…

REVIEW.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Sorry this chapter was so late, but I had finals and Christmas and all these other holidays, not including birthdays and coming back home for good for a month. Except now I want to go back to my dorm, if that makes sense. I had to take down _Twelve Days of KakaIru_ too because I couldn't finish it in time.

Maybe next year, so I can work on it during the year. And I owed my friend twenty bucks because I wasn't wable to write it, and finish it, like I promised. Le Sigh.

If it makes you guys happy, I wrote a majority of this chapter today.

* * *

"You're going to have to clean him up, Iruka-sensei." Sakura supplied helpfully, standing far enough from the boy so she wouldn't get dirtied herself. She smiled at the grimace of disgust that was firmly attached to her younger sensei's face as Iruka used a rag in an attempt to get rid of the pink colored goo attached to the boy's face. Grinning at Sasuke and Naruto, she turned and began to walk home, hoping the two teens would understand. 

Iruka nodded towards his students as the left, grabbing Kakashi's hand as he gave up trying to clean the boy's face. The smaller chunin sighed and allowed himself to be dragged after the taller man, grimacing again when he noticed how sticky his hand was.

"At least you won." Iruka said happily, smiling down at the youth. "That means I have to get someone to watch over Tootsie-chan."

Instead of answering, Kakashi picked at a piece of pink that was attached to his shoulder. Flicking the piece of gum in front of him, the boy glared up at his guardian, squaring his shoulders. Before Iruka could comment on the boy's miserable state, who knew Kakashi could be so sullen, a tug on his other hand grabbed his attention.

"Iruka-sensei, Iruka-sensei!"

Glancing down, Iruka felt a real smile grace his lips for the first time the entire day. "Hello, Sora." He said, rubbing a hand through the smaller boy's hair, marveling at the cinnamon colored spikes. "What's going on?"

Blue eyes filled with tears and the four year old tugged at Iruka's fingers, pouting. "Sensei, why weren't you in school today? Were you sick? Did you have to go on a mission?" Sora questioned, his pout becoming more pronounced.

"I just have to watch after a…friend." Iruka paused, tugging on Kakashi's hand. "He's a little dirty from playing with Gai-sensei."

The boy glared at the slightly older grey haired boy, his eyes hardening instead of giggling helplessly at Iruka's comment. "He took you away from us!" He stated, pointing angrily at Kakashi, never letting go of his teacher's hand.

"It's not like I'm asking for your stupid teacher to watch me." Kakashi grumbled, upset at having to battle Gai, and even though he won, the effects were still being felt. Especially in his hair. It seemed that bubblegum was not meant to be used as building materials while someone else was still blowing said sugary treat.

Sora's pout returned and he rubbed his cheek worriedly against the back of Iruka's hand, "Sensei isn't stupid." He muttered sadly, his eyebrows furrowing as he stared at Kakashi, his lips puckering.

Feeling like this was going to soon break out in a little boy brawl, and hating the idea of him being the referee, Iruka swung his hand lightly to draw back Sora's interest. "Sora-chan, where's your mother?" He asked, attempting to lighten the mood by raising the pitch of his voice. And maybe they could get off of the subject of how intelligent, or how unintelligent, he was.

The little boy frowned and shot one last dirty look, more of a pout, at Kakashi before dejectedly sighing at his teacher. "Mommy left me with Riku so she could talk to his mommy and then Riku had to go potty and I waited for him but he didn't come back." The tears returned, this time accompanied by a sniffle.

Glancing around the darkened streets, Iruka huffed as he racked his brain for an idea. "Sora-chan, do you know where you live?" He ignored Kakashi's tugging on his hand, deciding to concentrate on the little boy who actually liked him.

Sora's eyes seemed to grow triple in size and the lip jutted out a few inches.

Sighing, Iruka released Kakashi's hand and turned to the smaller chunin, crouching down to become eye level. "Kakashi, can you please go back to my house? You can take a shower and make yourself comfortable before I come home." The boy grunted lightly and shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the hand that squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.

As he watched the little boy stomp away Iruka smiled when small arms curled around his neck, Sora resting his head on his teacher's shoulder. Standing, and hoisting the child up in his arms, Iruka felt a small frown tug at his lips at the cold nature of his current charge.

"Why are you so sad, Iruka-sensei?" Sora asked when they started to move, snuggling into the man's neck to become comfortable as Iruka's feet moved automatically in the direction of the little boy's house. Sora seemed to get lost at least once a week and Iruka was often the teacher assigned who had find the boy, wherever he was located in the village, and take the sniffling mass of cute home, where his mother would grin and sigh.

The child threaded his hands gently through the hair on the nape of Iruka's neck, nibbling on his lower lip as he frowned. He pushed away and looked at his teacher before resting his forehead against Iruka's; causing the man to stop since he couldn't see the path he had to walk.

"You have eyes like him…" Sora said quietly, pulling away and settling back against his teacher, his eyes drifting up towards the sky to watch the stars appear.

Iruka blinked as he turned on the little boy's street, pausing to see if he could remember Sora's address. "Who do I have eyes like, Sora-chan?" He said, starting to move again when he saw a light on and someone sitting on a porch.

The boy sighed, "Like the other one," He said, his brows furrowing as he pouted again, "He was sad like you." Sora tugged on a strand of Iruka's hair as they neared his house, squirming in an effort to be placed on the ground.

Iruka watched the little boy run up to the porch, stumbling on a couple of steps, falling into the lap of his surprised friend. He grinned when the silver haired boy gave a shout of anger even as he held Sora in a tight hug, pulling the younger boy into his house where, undoubtedly, both of the children's mothers were.

Scratching at his scar, Iruka turned before either mother could come out and started to trudge his way home. The teacher sighed and rubbed lightly at his arms, feeling the cold of winter approaching, thinking about what he could do tomorrow with the younger chunin.

_'Knowing my luck, if he keeps growing, he'll soon be of a higher rank then me.'_ Iruka sighed and fished through his pockets for his keys, _'At least something will be back to normal soon…'_ Inserting the key into the lock and finding the door still locked shut, Iruka wondered for a moment how Kakashi had entered into the house. Shrugging, and chuckling to himself, Iruka pushed open the door.

Toeing off his shoes quietly, the chunin smiled at the sound of a shower turning off. He moved towards the kitchen and glanced in the refrigerator, nodding at the closed containers he found sitting on a shelf, one labeled miso. It seemed that Naruto had passed by before he went home, bringing over a couple bowls of ramen.

As he set a container on the table, he was feeling a little hungry, Iruka turned at the sound of soft footsteps. The small boy glared at him, mask firmly in place with his dripping hair slicked back from his forehead, pulling out a chair and sitting on the edge of the piece of furniture with his small feet tucked underneath him.

"So I guess you got all the gum off?" Iruka said as he put the container in the microwave, pressing a couple of buttons and leaning against the counter.

Kakashi nodded, more of a twitch of his head, and continued to sit silently on the chair. His left eye was closed tightly but his right remained open, staring at Iruka as if assessing his worth. The hum of the appliance was the only sound in the kitchen for a while, both staring at each other as they waited for the bowl of ramen to heat.

A loud meow broke the silence as Tootsie trotted into the room, her tail held erect as she rubbed against her owner's legs. The feline shot the equivalent of a smirk at Kakashi, purring loudly as Iruka picked her up and allowed her to nuzzle underneath his chin. Kakashi simply glared as his eye narrowed into a slit.

The beeping of the microwave made Tootsie meow happily, kneading her paws into Iruka's shirt and starting a louder round of purring. Iruka chuckled and rubbed his hand against the animal's face as he popped open the small machine to slide the bowl onto the counter. He turned and frowned at seeing the small boy glaring at the cat, who continued to rub happily against Iruka's neck.

Confused for a moment, and slightly frightened at the venomous face on Kakashi, it took a few seconds for Iruka to remember the younger male's distaste for cats and the brief conversation they had after the bubblegum building match. Shrugging his cat onto one shoulder, she kept trying to poke her nose into the ramen; Iruka picked up the phone and punched a couple of numbers. Juggling the cat, the cordless phone, and ladling the ramen into two separate ramen bowls, Iruka somehow managed to make it to the table in one piece.

"Hello? Oh, hello, Mrs. Haruno." Iruka glared at Kakashi and held out Tootsie underneath her arms when the young boy tried to grab a bowl. "I was hoping you could send Sakura over. What? No, no, she isn't in trouble. I just need her to watch my cat for a couple of days.

"Yes, he is causing some trouble." After saying that he looked at the boy who was glaring at the cat who was sitting on the table. "Wait, how do you know about him being…" Iruka frowned at the phone when it suddenly went dead after Sakura's mother giggled and, presumably, hung up.

Shrugging, maybe it was a bad connection since there was no reason for the mother to laugh, Iruka slid a bowl towards the boy and picked up the cat, who was licking between the toes of her back foot quite artfully, and set her on the ground.

"Even though it is so late, and you should be asleep," Iruka said, while pulling another, smaller, bowl out of his cabinet before sitting at the table, "You haven't eaten anything all day except for breakfast and I don't want you to be hungry when you get up." He portioned the ramen in one bowl into the new bowl, placing it on the ground.

Kakashi grumbled, his eyebrow ticking when Tootsie jumped off the table and began to eat her portioned meal. Grabbing his bowl, he grumbled as he picked up the pair of chopsticks that had been placed on top and broke them apart with a simple snap.

They ate in silence for a few moments with the sound of their utensils hitting the sides of the bowls being the only sound in the kitchen. The cat finished first and licked her chops in happiness of the treat before scampering off into the bedroom to create her sleeping nest. Iruka picked up the small bowl and placed it in his own before turning in his chair and putting both on the counter to be washed.

"I'm done." Kakashi said softly, pushing his bowl gently over to his guardian, his eye drooping as he attempted to fight off sleep. He yawned and leaned his body on the table, watching Iruka as he stood and put his bowl with the others.

The chunin teacher, unaware he was being observed, turned on the water and filled the sink, squirting in a dollop of soap. Humming softly to himself, Iruka slowly began to wash the dishes, looking out the window as he unconsciously started to count the stars in the sky. Finishing the bowls he moved them onto the drying rack, dumping in the utensils and the plates from the beginning of the week before this fiasco involving jounins turning into little children.

A knock jolted him from his musings, he had counted almost three hundred stars, and he winced as a knife, hidden underneath the soapsuds, cut into the palm of his right hand. Pulling the injured limb out of the water, and hissing as cut opened slightly from the motion. Grabbing a towel as he moved towards the front door, Iruka applied pressure and swung the door open.

"Hi, Iruka-sensei!" Sakura said, grinning and waving as she walked in the house. "My mom said you called up and wanted me to get Tootsie-chan?" She said, glancing around the house in search of the cat.

Iruka nodded, "Yes, I told Kakashi-kun that I would give her to someone if he won." He grimaced and the girl's eyes traveled to his hand.

"Iruka-sensei! What happened to your hand? Do you need me to heal it?"

"No, no. It's only a scratch." The teacher laughed, "I just had a little run in with a dinner knife."

The girl frowned, "Was it Kakashi-sensei's fault?" Sakura growled and crossed her arms over her chest, "If he's done anything wrong we can tell the Hokage and she can get someone else to watch him."

Iruka blinked at his past student for a moment, mulling over the thought of Kakashi attempting to hurt him like the girl thought, and shook his head. "No, it was all my fault. Wasn't watching the dishes as I washed them." He shrugged in indifference.

"Tootsie-chan is in my room, at least, I saw her run that way after I fed her. You don't need to bring her in a carrying case, she should be all right just being carried. In fact, if she's asleep, she shouldn't even wake up if you pick her up." Iruka informed Sakura.

"I'm going to go wrap this up," He gestured with his hand, moving towards the bathroom, "I'll probably see you tomorrow." The pink haired girl nodded and moved towards the bedroom, making 'chicking' noises for the feline to hear.

Iruka turned on the light in the bathroom and sighed at the familiar sound of the fan going off. Crouching down and reaching under the sink, he pulled out the first aid kit and placed it on the sink. Making quick work of his hand, Iruka had experience patching up numerous students, he moved back into the kitchen.

Asleep, Kakashi was balanced between the table and his chair with his body somehow in equilibrium. Iruka smiled at the boy and leaned against the doorway, looking at the boy with an unbiased eye. Kakashi, even with his gray hair and little scowl on his features, looked like a child.

Iruka frowned at a sudden tightness in his chest, rubbing at his neckline in discomfort. He walked over to the child and slipped his arms around the small body, breathing a laugh when Kakashi stiffened and attempted to squirm away and attack. "Kakashi-kun? It's time for bed."

A pair of eyes opened, stared at Iruka for a second before the left eye slammed shut and the boy pushed that side of his face into the older man's chest. "It hurts…" He muttered quietly, his hands going up to tangle themselves in his mane of hair.

"What do you see when your other eye opens?" Iruka asked, making conversation as he walked to the guest bedroom, nudging open the door with his hip and flicking the light on quickly.

Kakashi whined in the back of his throat, looking up at Iruka. "Everything slows down. And it makes my head hurt a lot." He glanced around the new room as he was lowered into the bed, his light blue eye staring at Iruka with a strange expression mirrored in the depths.

He looked around the room after the covers were pulled over his small body, rolling over onto his stomach as he looked under the bed to Iruka's amusement. "Where's the cat?" He said uncertainly, crawling back into the middle of the bed and shooting a grimace at the taller man.

"I promised I would get rid of her if you won." He sat down on the bed, smiling at the boy, "And you won, so I had Sakura come over and bring Tootsie-chan over to her house." Iruka shrugged as he nudged Kakashi back under the covers, tucking him in a little more firmly this time, "A promise is a promise."

The boy snorted and burrowed under the covers, turning on his side to stare at the wall. "I thought you were lying." He said quietly, bringing his legs up to his chest and pulling the blankets closer around his body.

"Why would I lie to you?" Iruka asked quietly, rubbing his hand on Kakashi's back since the boy wasn't looking at him. "No one ever goes back on a promise. It's something very important and lots of people understand that."

Kakashi mumbled something into his blankets, his eye clouding as he stared blankly at the plain wall. His small hand tightened on the thick fabric until his small knuckles turned white.

Seeing what was happening, Iruka reached out and covered the hand with a sigh, his own hand going to thread itself leisurely through the boy's damp hair in an attempt at comfort. "Kakashi-kun, what's wrong? It's okay to tell me, I won't yell at you."

The boy shook his head and refused to look at Iruka.

Taking this as his cue to leave, the brunet stood and brushed off his pants. Walking to the door, he turned one last time to stare at the tiny sized lump in the bed that Naruto often occupied when he slept over. _'Except he is so different from Naruto, or any other child I've ever worked with…'_ Iruka thought sadly, wondering why this wondering made his chest feel tight again.

"Good night, Kakashi-kun. I'll see you in the morning…" The adult whispered before closing the door slowly, leaving it open a tad.

Stretching, Iruka walked to his own room, which still had the light on from Sakura going in to catch his cat. He smiled when he noticed the small indent in his sheets, from said cat, as he pulled off his shirt. Discarding his pants and leaving himself in only his boxers, Iruka crawled into his bed.

Flicking off the light, he relaxed underneath his sheets. Sighing and snuggling into his own pillow, Iruka was suddenly hit with a nostalgia that he couldn't place. He grimaced, not sure what he could be longing for that was somehow connected to his bed.

_'It's nothing.'_ He thought, pulling a pillow to his chest in hopes of squashing the feeling. _'I'm only feeling like this because it's almost winter and I'm a little lonely, that's all.'_ Iruka nodded to himself and reached behind his head to pull out the hair tie that pulled together his hair, preparing to go to sleep for at least eight hours. Getting up early and trying to control Kakashi all day had worn him out more than teaching a full schedule of classes.

"What does it mean when someone forgets their promise?"

Wrenching himself back from half-asleep drowsiness, Iruka pushed his body into a sitting position and leaned back against his headrest. "Kakashi-kun? Is that you?" He sighed as a weight settled on his bed, the boy crawling up to kneel next to his guardian. "You should be asleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

The boy shook his head and pushed away the hand that had found its way into his now dry hair. "I don't want to sleep. Tell me what it means when someone forgets their promise? Is it because they don't love you anymore?"

Iruka's eyes snapped open and he gazed at the small boy who seemed to be having an internal battle. Kakashi toyed with the buttons on the front of his pajamas, the cute cloud print a contrast to his stricken features. "You said that no one goes back on promises they make. So if someone does they must hate you!" He said ferociously, his eyes turning hard.

"No, Kakashi-kun," Iruka reached up and pulled the boy down onto his stomach, ignoring the glare he gained. "Every so often, people make promises that they can't keep even if they want to." He rubbed his thumb of the cloth-covered cheeks, catching a stray tear before it could soak into the fabric. "It doesn't mean they hate you."

The boy shook his head and hid his face in Iruka's neck, the rest of his body lying prone on top of Iruka's. "He promised he would never leave me alone after mommy left, but he lied." He mumbled, his voice thick.

Suddenly understanding, Iruka ran his hand soothingly through the boy's hair while his other hand went to rub at his scar. "Sometimes people leave you, and others may deceive you, but you decide what's good." He tucked his fingers under the boy's chin, making him stare into his own brown colored eyes. "But no one is ever truly alone."

He opened his mouth to argue and Iruka placed a finger over his lips, amused for once that the boy wouldn't bite him through the mask. "No, even now you aren't alone. Though he's gone doesn't mean that you're alone. I'm here." He smiled at the small grunt, "And as long as you remember who ever leaves in your heart, then they'll stay with you too.

Kakashi grumbled quietly after the man's speech, his motions becoming subdued as the day's actions finally caught up with him. Before he knew what was happening, Iruka had hooked his fingers over the mask and had pulled it down, leaving his face bare.

The boy snapped awake and made a pitiful whine in the back of his throat before pulling the fabric up again to cover his pouting lips. "You're not supposed to see that." He said angrily, his visible cheeks reddening slightly.

"Why not?" Iruka asked as he slid down the headboard, lying on his back with the small Kakashi sprawled on his stomach glaring at him. The boy's teeth were awfully close to his face, Iruka noticed with slight shiver. "You have a perfectly normal face. I don't know why you hide it." He replied, pulling down the fabric again.

His fingers traced over the boy's nose before Kakashi could pull the mask up again, amused at finally being able to see the angry pout that he knew had to have been hiding behind the thin piece of cloth. "You have a tan line." Iruka said, finding it interesting that the skin was only a tad bit lighter than the skin surrounding the boy's eyes.

Without knowing why, Iruka suddenly thought of the older Kakashi, and how his face must look compared to his child's version. Did he have a tan line? Was his face as smooth as it was now, or were there scars besides the large one from the sharagin?

Shaking his head, Iruka chased his thoughts from thinking about the older man. Snuggling into his blankets, and ignoring the weight from Kakashi, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to fall into a doze. He smiled lightly at a yawn from the lump on his chest, basking in the brief moment of silence afterwards.

As he drifted to sleep, his thoughts returned for a last stand. _'You would think I was a schoolgirl with a crush from the way I'm currently obsessing over the older Kakashi.'_ But before Iruka could regain consciousness and refute these claims, slumber claimed its hold on him.

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**Author's Notes**

Woah, I wrote this whole chapter without using my little divider thingies. I'm oddly proud of myself. Also, I will try and post two, count them, two chapters before I go back on campus at the end of January. Hopefully, we'll get into Kakashi's teen years. Can't wait until then. A little preview, there will be bad pickup lines.

Anyway, as usual, review. Am I the only person amased at the amount of people reviewing? It's making me really happy and it makes me want to write more.

Hint, hint.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Hey, guys, I know I promised two whole chapters before I went back to school, but it turns out I just cannot provide the goods on time. Again.

Man, I am horrible

On another note, I am informing those few people that I am not really following the Naruto storyline as some assumed. Sasuke is obviously still in the village, and other people who should be dead aren't. Simply because the writers keep killing off the characters I like. Like Hayate. He was sick like me!

Another chapter in two weeks, pinky promise.

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"Iruka-sensei. Iruka-sensei…"

A soft, deep voice made Iruka open his eyes slowly, blinking up at a face he knew but didn't. Mismatched eyes stared down at him filled with life, hidden in the depths a feral sort of air. Planted firmly next to his head, which was still lying on the pillow, was a hand that gripped the sheets lightly.

"There you are. I was beginning to think you were never going to wake up."

The brunet could only watch as a fully adult Kakashi leant down to nuzzle against the side of his face. Within a moment, the other man had lied down next to him; his body laying flush against the smaller one. Iruka attempted to ignore the warmth growing in multiple parts of his body, a light blush taking hold of his features.

A pair of muscled arms wrapped around his waist, drawing attention to Iruka's nightwear, which was still only a pair of boxers. Struggling, he managed to withdraw his body from the hold. "Kakashi-san, what are you-"

"Why the formalities?" The jounin chuckled, sending a pleasant shiver up Iruka's spine. Soon afterwards a pair of lips, no longer covered by thin fabric, brushed against the base of a tan colored neck while a pale hand snaked around his waist to press flat against Iruka's stomach. "Or is this one of your games?" The pads of flesh said against the skin followed by a small nip of sharp teeth.

"You're so cute when you act like this." Kakashi whispered into the nape of Iruka's neck, his breath warming the spot for a moment as the jounin shifted into a relaxed position. "Sensei." Iruka's title sounded like a sin when rolled off the grey haired man's lips.

Kakashi sighed and pulled the smaller male closer to his body, his free hand moving through brown locks at a languid pace. "I thought about you when I was on my mission." Iruka stiffened at the smooth voice murmuring into his ear, wondering why his brain wasn't setting off alarms and why his heart refused to slow down.

"Kakashi-san," The chunin blushed again at a slight tightening around his waist, feeling a set of perfect abs ripple against his back for a moment before stilling. "What are we doing?" Iruka asked, trying to understand what was going on in his bed.

"We're being happy." Iruka could feel the smile briefly against his shoulder, "You said yourself that that was the reason we had to be together." The chunin suppressed a cry of outrage, instead fisting his hand into the sheets in front of him. "And I wasn't one to argue, especially after you kissed me under an umbrella without my consent in front of the whole village." Iruka took a quick breath, swallowing the snort that threatened to erupt from his mouth.

"Besides," Kakashi sighed again, his hands threading together in front of Iruka's stomach, his pale skin highlighted by the moon in the sky.

"I love you."

The chunin could no longer stop his movement and so he squirmed violently around so he was facing the grey haired male, hands pressed against a smooth chest and ready to lecture the older man for throwing around words he himself didn't know the meaning of. It was then that he noticed something wrong. The bottom half of Kakashi's face was blurred, as if someone had been drawing the jounin and had forgotten to finish.

* * *

Iruka awoke with a start to the sound of rain hitting his windows and his right palm itching slightly. Rubbing the back of his hand over his eyes and sitting up, the chunin glanced at his clock and was surprised that it was already nine in the morning and no one had called, knocked, barged in, or attacked his house. Perhaps Tsunade told the village to leave him alone on his little vacation.

Swinging his legs over his bed, he stood slowly and walked towards his kitchen. _'I wonder where the brat is?'_ Iruka thought sluggishly as he moved closer to the front of his house, having finally noticed that the little boy was not with him when he awoke. _'Maybe he ran away…that would be nice…'_ He finished wistfully, ignoring a small pang in his chest at the mention of the boy leaving him. Suddenly, the dream from the night before hit him like a ton of bricks.

Leaning against the wall, he threaded his hand through his hair, resting it at the base of his neck. He blushed and withdrew his hand from that spot, rubbing it against his boxer shorts before pinching the bridge of his nose. _'Why am I dreaming, even thinking of these sort of things?'_ Iruka thought furiously, pushing off the wall and continuing on his way to the kitchen.

The chunin teacher paused again before the doorway, his thoughts swimming in a futile effort to try and understand what was going on. _'Yet…it seemed familiar…'_ Iruka shook his head at this concept and turned into only lit room in house.

He smiled in a bemused sort of way as he spotted the young boy of his current thoughts sitting at his table reading the paper spread out in front of him. Kakashi chewed on a piece of toast, his mask surrounding his throat in a sharp contrast, as he looked over the comic section in all seriousness.

"Good morning, Kakashi-kun." Iruka said as pleasantly as he could as he walked in, smiling wider when he noticed a pot of coffee already made. "When did you wake up?" He asked over his shoulder as he poured the beverage into a 'world's greatest teacher' mug, one of the many he received every winter and birthday from well meaning students.

The boy grunted and finished the piece of toasted bread, "At five-thirty." He brushed his hands over the front of his shirt to remove the small crumbs. "I did training." He said simply, shrugging.

Before Iruka could ask what training Kakashi did, he was interested in what the young genius did in comparison to his academy students, the sound of thunder suddenly clapped over the village, shaking the windows in their panes. Scratching his scar in contemplation, the chunin strolled into the living room while holding his steaming cup of coffee.

"Kakashi-kun, how long has it been raining like this." Iruka said, sipping his beverage as he watched the black clouds move across the sky.

The boy shrugged and chewed on a new piece of toast, no longer reading the comics and now silently examining the older man standing across the room. After a moment of study he stood and walked over to Iruka, his eye watching every movement the relaxed man made.

Swallowing his coffee, Iruka lifted his hand and placed it on the boy's head, frowning at the stiffness he found in the boy's frame. "Well, Kakashi-kun, looks like we can't play outside today." He chose to ignore the boy's eye roll at the obvious statement, "And since I don't think we should stay inside all day, we'll go to the store."

Nodding, Iruka walked back into the kitchen, trusting the boy to follow. "I don't know how you could do any sort of training in this weather, it can't be good for your health." He opened the refrigerator and glanced at the insides, making a mental list of the food he had to purchase.

Standing up, Iruka stared at the small boy, frowning again when he noticed the mask covering the pale features. Leaning back against the counter, the chunin studied Kakashi for a moment. He narrowed his eyes when he spotted a guarded look from the child watching his own observation.

"Kakashi-kun, we're going to the grocery store. Can you go get ready?" He pushed off the flat surface and walked past the boy, refusing to let a shiver travel up his spine at the blank look that followed him. "I'll see you in a little bit…" Iruka trailed off when Kakashi didn't move from his spot.

The boy frowned and sniffed, a small sound coming from his mouth as he walked quietly to his room, leaving behind a mildly shocked Iruka. The sensei blinked for a second, his brain wrapping around the new information that had assaulted his senses. Without a moment's hesitation he picked up the phone and dialed a number he knew by heart, waiting for the line to connect. It seemed Kakashi had entered the angry stage that most children went through in their pre-teen ages.

He would need as much backup as possible.

----------

"Ano, why do you need asparagus?"

"Naruto, it's very healthy for you." Iruka put an extra bundle of the vegetables into his basket to spite the blond.

The younger teen snorted and hooked his arm through the lank one of Sasuke's. Looking up, he pouted until the dark haired male sighed and tilted his head slightly to brush a kiss over the other's head. The bright smile was reward enough for the stress this whole trip was causing the Uchiha.

"See?" Naruto smiled cheekily at Iruka, "Sasuke agrees with me. Asparagus is disgusting! You should buy more ramen, I don't know anyone who doesn't love it."

The Uchiha sighed and wondered for the fifth time in the half hour why he was here, taking a quick glance at the smaller male who was lagging behind the small company. A pale eye glared at him before closing it in slight distaste as the rest of the group made their way down the packaged goods aisle. It seemed Naruto had worked his charms on his old teacher yet again.

Sasuke turned back to Iruka, who was refusing to buy fifteen boxes of ramen, and raised his eyebrow in consideration of talking. He grunted when neither of the others turned from their argument. "Iruka-sensei. Do you know Kakashi has been following us purely on chakra for the last twenty minutes" He said in a bored manner, choosing to ignore the venomous look that flashed through Kakashi's, now open, eye.

"Come on, Sasuke-koi. That's silly. Kakashi-sensei can't do that stuff yet. He's still a little kid." Naruto continued to look at the varieties of dried noodles.

Iruka, on the other hand, place a foam cup back on the shelf, ignoring a certain person's yelling at the action, and turned to the grey haired male. "Kakashi-kun," He frowned when the youth refused to look at him. "Kakashi-kun, is that true?"

Finally getting a small nod in response, Iruka sighed and moved into another aisle. _'This means Kakashi is getting older...'_ He thought silently to himself as he glanced at the copy-nin from the side. _'He has to be at least twelve now.'_ The chunin frowned as he wandered into a line for checkout.

"Iruka-sensei? What's wrong?" Naruto said quietly, his arm still wrapped around Sasuke's in a half embrace. "Are you sad about the rain? Don't worry!" He grabbed Iruka's basket and began to unload, grimacing at the various fruits and vegetables, "I heard from a very reliable source that it might snow in a couple of days." He winked blatantly at Sasuke, who was obviously the 'source' of said information.

"And we always get together when it snows." The blonde grinned brightly, grabbing Sasuke's hand, "And the snow festival! The old hag promised if we got snow that we could have a festival!" He laughed and gave the Uchiha a hug, ignoring the cashier who was trying not to faint.

"Yes, yes, Naruto. And we can build snowmen, and have snowball fights." Iruka handed over a couple of bills, "But that is in a few days, and I have groceries now." He held out a bag to the blonde, "So you might as well help out."

Naruto laughed and let go of Sasuke, grabbing a bag and peering at the contents. "I am so happy I don't' have to eat this junk." He said, grimacing as a few drops of rain fell onto his face by rolling of him and Sasuke's shared umbrella.

"Naruto, I don't care what you think about the vegetables." Iruka shot a frown at the younger male as he pulled out a head of lettuce, showing that he actually did mind. "Besides, you aren't going to be eating it." He removed the lettuce from the teen's hands before it went tumbling to the ground and most likely into a puddle.

The blonde laughed and bumped arms with Sasuke, who appeared to be carrying most of the purchases in one hand. "Yeah, Kakashi-sensei has to eat that stuff." He nodded his head at the health food, tongue coming out in disgust, "I feel sorry for you." Naruto called over his shoulder with a smile.

A moment passed before he turned back, a huge grin plastered across his features while his eyebrows furrowed together. "Ah…Iruka-sensei?"

The brunet sighed and stopped walking, turning to face his past students with a small smile crossing his features, "Yes, Naruto?"

"Did you tell Kakashi-sensei to go back to the house?" The fox vessel said quickly, a word or two jumbling together. He seemed to shrink into Sasuke's side, huddled under the umbrella as he tried to hide from the narrowed gaze of Iruka.

"No."

"Well, he isn't exactly…here." He said bluntly, though it seemed as if he had tried to soften the blow.

A few moments passed in silence as the trio stared at each other, Iruka's eyes widening every second, Naruto staring at said widening and Sasuke starting at the ground. Tumbleweed could have rolled across the street and not have appeared out of place, except that the rain ruined the desert motif.

When no one said anything for over a minute, Sasuke grunted lightly in the back of his throat and flinched somewhat when two pairs of eyes focused directly on him. "Naruto and I can put the food away." He reached his hand out into the rain for Iruka's bags, already feeling the flesh cooling from the falling liquid.

Before he could refuse the offer, Iruka thrust the bags into the waiting arms of the Uchiha and sprinted down the road, his umbrella closed and clasped underneath his arm.

_'Now, if I was a brat Kakashi, where would I be?'_ He thought frantically as he ran back into the grocery store, smiling in response to the workers' waves. Making a few seals with his hands, he sent out a quick chakra burst. Frowning when nothing came back in the building, except for civilian energies, he focused on a strong blip coming out side in the rain.

Swearing softly to himself, Iruka opened his umbrella as he hurried outside. Not that it helped, since he was already drenched from his sprint back to the store. Quickly approaching the source, he frowned when he saw smoke rising lazily from underneath a different umbrella. _'Great. If he's started smoking I am going to kill him!'_

The murderous thoughts halted, though, when Iruka had to suddenly stop to avoid barreling head on into a body that was definitely not Kakashi. Instead of gray hair and a moody attitude, a pair of eyes glanced down at him with a cigarette clamped firmly between a pair of teeth.

"Hey, Iruka-sensei." Asuma took another long drag from the cigarette before dropping it on the ground. "I thought you were on forced vacation from the Hokage." He said before pulling out another stick and placing it in his mouth, not lighting it for a moment.

Panting slightly, Iruka allowed the moist air to fill his lungs before letting it out in one breath. "I was looking for Kakashi-san. He went missing I think a half an hour ago." He frowned when the jounin looked unconcerned, his hand patting down his pockets.

"Any idea where he might have gone?"

"Lots of places, but they could all lead to dead ends." He responded, finally finding his pack of matches and lighting the cigarette. Pausing to suck in a lungful of nicotine, he finally turned both his eyes onto the chunin. "Kakashi was always a strange kid, really quiet. He didn't tend to stay where there was a lot of people."

Feeling as if he was forming an ulcer at that very moment, Iruka huffed and crossed his arms, umbrella balanced precariously between his neck and shoulder. "Where can he be now, Asuma? He is only around twelve years old, maybe older. He can't have just run off somewhere!"

The older male shrugged, letting a mouthful of smoke float out from between his lips. Tilting his umbrella to avoid any water falling on his cigarette, Asuma brushed his hand through his hair. "The war was happening around then, I think." Another puff of smoke, "So he's probably hanging around at the mission room, waiting to be assigned an assassination or something."

Iruka nodded and ran off without saying goodbye to the smoking jounin, closing his umbrella when it forced him to move at a slower pace. It was only when he was a couple of blocks away that the other man's words finally sunk in. _'Great, now I'm dealing with a jounin kid who's going to try and kill me in the middle of the night, with war experience._

_'At least I know where he is now.'_ Iruka thought as he paused in front of the huge building he was well acquainted with. Feeling out of place without folders or any other type of work, he walked up into the building and onto the floor he knew missions were handed out. Most of the time, he was handing out the missions, so there were no doubts that he could have made it to the room with his eyes closed.

"Hey, Iruka! Didn't except to find you here!" Genma said, leaning on a desk as he talked to one of the workers, who happened to be a pretty woman. "I thought the Hokage forced you to finally take a vacation?" He chewed on his senbon needle, cocking his head to the side.

"Yes, Genma, I was on vacation starting yesterday." Iruka pried apart the room using his eyes alone, knowing most of the hiding spots. He used at least one every week attempting to avoid Tsunade. "Have you seen any peculiar looking teens lurking around here?"

"You lost Kakashi? Man, I cant wait to tell him that when he gets back to normal!" Genma said, waving his hands in the general direction of the door as an oblivious Raido came walking through.

Attempts at being subtle never seemed to work for Iruka.

The heavily scarred man blinked for a moment, not understanding what was going on. He wasn't paid to understand what the people exactly did in the mission room when they weren't handing out missions or looking over reports. Raido just came for the coffee and gossip. And for picking up files the Hokage needed or wanted.

The special jounin paused when Genma swung an arm over his shoulders, hand clutching a paper cup filled with tar-like liquid. "What do you think Kakashi will say? Guess, Raido-chan!" The last part was said in a singsong manner, which Raido refused to answer to.

Iruka growled at the higher-ranking men as Genma continued to laugh, and Raido attempted to inhale his coffee. "Listen, if you're not going to help me, I'm just going to leave." The chunin said, his voice accidentally slipping into teacher mode.

Genma stood with his mouth gaping like a fish and the special jounin shot Iruka a smile. "Iruka-sensei," He paused, smiling wider when the blond next to him didn't butt in with his own remark, "We received word from the ANBU a few minutes ago concerning a young male that looks like a replica of a certain copy nin.

"Tsunade-sama sent me down here to inform you, in case you came to the mission room in search of Kakashi." Without further pressing from Iruka he continued, "He should be near the academy, to my knowledge.

"Be careful, Iruka." Raido said as the chunin turned to leave, "Kakashi is very dangerous. Especially now, if he's over thirteen." The words, 'he's an ANBU now' were left unsaid.

Again without saying goodbye, Iruka raced from the building. Of course, it wasn't until he was outside did he notice that it had started to rain harder and that it was absolutely necessary for him to actually use his umbrella for its main purpose, protecting him from the downpour.

Struggling in the mud for a minute or two, Iruka smiled when he saw that school was still in session. Some rooms were filled with children staring gloomily outside, while other classes were practicing in the mud and rain as advanced training. Only those who were outside mucking around in the sludge knew that hot cocoa was going to be served as soon as they walked back in, something unheard of in real missions.

Standing in the rain, wondering if he had been led astray by another jounin, _'Maybe I should stop trusting that bunch?'_, Iruka felt a chakra presence nearby. Turning his tree, he thought he saw a body leaning against the tree. Walking, and even with the rain blocking most of his vision, the chunin felt a rush of warmth flood his system at seeing Kakashi safe, though soaked through.

"What's wrong with them?" The whispered words were almost drowned out by the sound of rain hitting the ground and the fabric covering the bottom half of his face.

Iruka tilted his head to the side, relaxed at last after finding his charge. "Nothing is wrong, Kakashi-kun. Why did you run off?"

"I'm not a child." Kakashi said, his voice already a few pitches lower than his voice in the morning. Even his stance was different, guarded and prepared for anything that could, and would, be thrown at him.

He jerked his head in the direction of a couple of children. They were laughing after one had tackled the other into a puddle filled with mud. "They act as if the village is safe. Why aren't they getting ready? I see kids who are almost my age still here."

"Why shouldn't they be?" Iruka asked, though he knew the answer before it even left the younger man's lips.

"The war."

Iruka sighed and moved so that his umbrella was finally covering the teenager. "Kakashi-kun," He ignored the glare from Kakashi at the title, "I think we should be getting back to my place before you catch something." He finished quietly, watching with a slight smile as some children jumped in a puddle, ignoring their teacher's pleas to come back inside.

They walked back in silence, ignoring the rain and each other as they moved closer to the chunin's home. Iruka unlocked the door quickly and quietly and moved in as he removed his shoes, balancing on one foot as Kakashi brushed past, while throwing his umbrella against the wall.

"I'm going to check to see if Naruto and Sasuke put away the groceries and if you want anything I can-" Iruka looked up in time to see the door at the end of the hallway close, the back of Kakashi's head was the last thing visible.

Feeling put out, Iruka stood and walked into the kitchen, glancing to make sure there weren't any evident bags still on the counter before flopping down in a chair. It was only when he felt something warm and wet brush against his leg did he look down, finding himself staring into a pair of green eyes.

"Pickles-chan, did you sneak in?" He asked the calico, picking her up and feeling her begin to purr. She was a stray that had somehow turned Iruka's house into her own home over the last year, sneaking in and out while he wasn't paying attention. "Of course with Tootsie-chan away you think you can just waltz in and own the place, yes?" She simply nuzzled into his chin as an answer, aggressively getting the pets she felt she deserved.

"Let's get to sleep." Iruka said, placing the still wet cat onto the ground and walking towards his room, smiling as she followed him, jumping onto the bed before he had even changed. The cat watched him as he walked around the room, eyes alert as she prepared for a blow that would never come. She was still scared of human beings, but she did enjoy the comforts that came with it.

"You can only stay because it's raining." Iruka said as he rolled onto his stomach in an attempt to relax. He smiled when he felt the small weight climb onto him, spreading her furry weight across his back. "Pickles-chan," Iruka grinned at Naruto's strange name for the cat, "Tomorrow you're going out."

"After breakfast."

Iruka groaned as he felt the feline knead into his right shoulder, little pinpricks from her nails keeping him from falling into sleep immediately. "All right, you can stay until Kakashi-kun finds out I have a cat again in the house." Pickles stilled and let out a yawn, relaxing and falling asleep.

Of course, speaking about Kakashi aloud, in his bed, made Iruka think about the morning. And the blood drained from his face as he thought about what had happened the morning before. _'It won't happen again, it won't happen again, it won't happen again…'_

Iruka repeated the phrase until he finally fell into a, hopefully, uneventful sleep.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

This chapter was a single day in one post, longer than my usual chapters by a little bit. I cut out a couple of details simply because I wanted to get to the next few days.

I like a teenager Kakashi, and Sakura does too. If you know what I mean.

;D

And with that tasty little tidbit to mull over, I hope you review!


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

I live!

Sorry, I've been very busy, but I had to sort some things out in my life.

Expect chapters to come a little quicker since I now know what I am doing with this story.

I will never abandon a story I start.

* * *

The village of Konohagakue was often said to be the jewel of all the other hidden villages. It had it all, strong ninja, a bustling economy, a society deep-seated in its traditions, and a multiplex. And not just any multiplex, but the only one in all the known countries that showed all _three _Icha Icha movies. A pervert's wet dream, one could say, figuratively and literally.

All of these variables, including the random nosebleeds that had absolutely nothing to do with said movies, lived in peaceful harmony. The flowers bloomed in the spring, children attempted to sneak into movies, and the honorable Hokage always looked out for the good of the community. Of course, according to the Hokage herself, sometimes the good of the community involved a large amount of gambling.

And not all gambling had to do with money.

"_Kukukukukukukuku_, this is my most ingenious plan ever." A pair of feminine hands clasped themselves on a buxom chest, savoring the plot that had been set into motion only four days ago. "Everyone wins. I win, the brat wins and Iruka will most definitely win." Now a sly grin slowly curled over a pair of painted lips.

"The pieces are all coming together." A pair of toffee colored eyes looked over the surface of the desk, a crimson tinted nail gliding over a section of a worn roll of paper that had frayed edges. Written over its visible, unfolded surface were the names of countless generations of shinobi that had one single line connecting one name to a single other. The finger paused over a name circled in red and a frown marred the perfect face at seeing the many lines that seemed to never connect with that single name.

"Now, whenever I see that expression I know a storm is coming that's going to end with someone getting struck by lightning." A booming voice filled the office of the Hokage for a moment, drawing the attention of the lone occupant.

Tsunade flicked her hair over her shoulder, glaring at Jiraiya under hooded eyelids as she watched him stroll towards her desk. When his gaze wandered to the open scroll she quickly rolled it up with a snap of the wrist, "And why should I let you in on my little secret? For all I know, you might try and stop me."

The older-looking sanin shrugged as he leaned against the table, "To each his own, but I already know about your little scheme involving the brat. De-aging him wasn't a well thought out plan even by your standards." He scoffed and rubbed at his chin, frowning at Tsunade's wide smirk, "Unless making Kakashi younger wasn't originally a part of your little scheme."

"Of course not. That was just a means to an end that helps move the plan along. It was either that or waiting for Kakashi to get severely injured and then forcing him into Iruka's care." She shrugged elegantly, looking out the window at the hazy, wet, weather. "The only thing that matters is that he ended up with that chunin."

"And why's that? Why do you need Kakashi to be with Iruka?" Jiraiya sat down in a chair, sprawling his bulk out and relaxing for a moment.

The Hokage was silent, tracing an abstract shape on the window and watching it fade after a few seconds. She finally turned to her past teammate with a strangely serious look plastered on her features, and leaned against the wall. "I want him to be happy. Isn't that my job, to make sure that everyone in the village is happy? I just want the brat to enjoy life for the present, and to stop worrying about things outside his control." She smiled faintly, "That's my job."

Before Jiraiya could add anything to the woman's musings Iruka burst through the door, his hair in disarray and his coat dripping from the rain pouring outside. The chunin seemed even less rested than he normally was, even though he was on forced vacation dark, plum colored circles drooped underneath his eyes. The brown orbs darted around the room before landing on Tsunade.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei? What can we do for you?" Jiraiya said while he crossed his legs, watching the fidgety manner of the brown haired man from across the room. "How's Kakashi doing?"

Iruka sighed and rubbed the heel of his palm against his forehead, "He woke up at four in the morning and started training. Loudly." His eyes closed a moment as he swallowed thickly, "Then after that he tried to force me into a fight with him, thus rending my house into ground zero and waking up every person in a five block radius."

The academy teacher dropped into a chair, his legs sprawled out in front of him as he dragged a limp hand across the top of his head, resting it at the base of his neck. "Afterwards he tried to kill my cat, but luckily he started sneezing and sniffling hard and I had to drag him into his room and onto the bed after he tripped over a chair chasing Pickles-chan."

He sighed, "I think he might have a cold, but of course he wouldn't tell me." He rested his chin on his hand, slightly unfocused gaze vacantly staring at the village leader. "I was wondering if you could give me something for him, Tsunade-sama. I don't want him to be sick when he gets older and be even more of a pain."

The woman nodded, ignoring the look shot towards her by Jiraiya, "Of course, Iruka-sensei." She walked over to her personal set of medical supplies, looking over her shoulder at the exhausted chunin, as he remained obliviously staring at his feet with a small puddle of water forming underneath the chair.

"Here, I made him a formula that should have the cold gone by tomorrow, just make sure he gets enough sleep." She handed a small vial to the younger male, who blinked at her for a moment dumbfounded before raising his hand to take the object, "And this," She held out a packet of powder, "Is for you. Mix it with some water and drink it. We can't have you looking so exhausted.

"You're on vacation, even if you are looking after Kakashi." She spared a genuine smile for Iruka, "Trust me when I say this, a couple of hours without worrying about him will do you good." She smoothed back a couple of strands of dark hair, humming softly, "Iruka, it'll turn out fine. Rest and have a little fun when it snows."

Tsunade watched as the man walked out the door, his two packages safe in his pocket, and turned to Jiraiya who was looking worried. The blonde pulled out her chair and sat, looking out her large window through the rain to see the man trudge into the mud.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Jiraiya asked, moving behind the Hokage and resting his hands on her shoulders, "I really don't want the brat to get hurt, but I think I understand what you are aiming for."

"Sometimes…" Tsunade paused and a hand reached up and tugged on Jiraiya's coat, remaining there even as they watched the rain suddenly increase. "People have to be hurt to understand how it feels to have someone care…"

A thick silence descended over the room as the two mature teammates agonized separately over the fate of a certain pair of shinobi. Hopefully things would turn out right without their interference.

* * *

Iruka was angry.

Not normal, get-out-of-the-way angry, but the type of angry that made his students quiver in fear. The type of angry that destroyed the self-esteem of numerous full-grown men if they were caught in the heated gaze. The type of angry used only in the direst of circumstances.

Stomping in another puddle, he ignored the greetings of the few people out who were also caught in the horrible weather. _'Stupid Kakashi, stupid brat, acting like an idiot, couldn't let me sleep in and woke up the neighbors and then he had to go get sick and make me go see Tsunade-sama, who's up to something, but I don't know…'_

The random train of thoughts continued as the chunin sensei shoved his hand into his pocket, drawing out the pair of keys to his house. Jamming them into his door, he unlocked the door and shuffled indoors all the while grimacing at the amount of water that poured off onto the floor. Kicking off his shoes and shrugging off his coat, his hand holding the drugs Tsunade gave him, he walked into the kitchen, intent on taking his medicine as soon as possible so he could take a nap.

_'After I take this I can finally catch up on my sleep and forget about Kakashi for a while. He's probably in his angsty teen years and I don't feel like dealing with that.'_ He thought, stepping over a sleeping canine to continue on his way to his room. _'Then I can feed Pickles-chan and the dogs and get out of here again, away from his mood swings.'_

Iruka stopped only a few steps from his room, repeating his thoughts word by word in his head, frowning. _'I don't have dogs…'_ An icy hand gripped his chest as he turned and saw, literally, every surface in his living room and the floor covered with dogs of various shapes and sizes.

"What the hell is going on?" He said loudly, drawing the attention of some of the animals, a few lazily raising their heads to stare at the man who dared to wake them from their nap. "And where is Pickles-chan?"

"If you mean the cat, it's somewhere in there."

He spun around glaring at the shorter, miserable looking Kakashi, who had a blanket wrapped around him and a couple more dogs trailing on his heels. "What did you do?" He noticed the teen's damp looking hair. "Were you training outside again?"

The male shrugged, pulling the blanket up higher as one of the dogs, it look like a greyhound covered in bandages, nuzzled against his hand trying to show support for its master. "I have to keep training." He said, eyes narrowing as his hand reached up to pet the sleeping pug draped over his shoulders.

"Kakashi, I really wouldn't have minded if you had just asked me before you summoned them all, but didn't you only have eight Ninken?" Iruka huffed, remembering from a conversation with Naruto how many of the summoning dogs the jounin had, not the insane amount that were currently sprawled out all over his house.

The younger male sniffed, the sound loud and guttural from his cold and a large percentage of the animals present lifted their heads, one nearby whimpering and giving a small bark. "They all needed homes, and they help me. They get bored sometimes." He stopped, shrugging at his excuse, daring Iruka to say he was lying.

Shaking his head, Iruka held out the small vial and sighed at the wary gaze the grey-haired teen stared at it. "It's for your cold from your training outside in the rain like an idiot." He ignored the scowl that blossomed underneath the tight mask; "It came from the Hokage so you don't need to worry about it being tampered with or something."

Kakashi grunted and reached a pale hand out to take the vial delicately between two long fingers, the muscles in his arm standing out in brief highlight before retreating back underneath the blanket. He nodded and downed the entire contents of the small bottle in one gulp, his mask appearing to never lower for the liquid to pass his lips. "I wasn't training. I just lost track of the time."

He paused, his eyes taking on a more calculating look, "When can I take more missions?" Kakashi asked, glancing around the room to try and find the chunin.

Iruka looked up from his position in the kitchen, a gaggle of puppies pawing at the hem of his pants, and took a sip of the mug he held in his hand. "I don't think you can go on any missions right now." He bent over and picked up one of the pups, making a cooing sound to the rest of them when they cried at not being picked.

The small animal snuggled underneath Iruka's chin, the wiry fur scratching against his skin as the man tried to take a sip of the medicine. "Think of this as a day off. A recovery day. I'm sure nobody will mind." He shrugged and watched as the teenager walk into the room, ignoring the puppy as it furiously licked at his face.

"It's my purpose to train and complete missions. I can't take a day off."

Iruka sighed and placed his cup on the table, pulling out a seat and sitting down. The puppies, seeing that he was stationary, crowded around his feet and settled down to argue over the best position to lie down. "You're on forced vacation, so you might as well get used to it." He took another sip of the liquid.

Kakashi's eyes blazed for a moment before he turned and stomped down the hallway, slamming the door and leaving the blanket behind on the floor. The whole pack of dogs paused for a moment, suddenly in tune with their master's feelings, shivering at the rawness of the emotion, before they went back to their more peaceful activities.

Rubbing his eyes for a moment, Iruka pushed up from his seat with a huff, murmuring a quiet apology to the nest of puppies that had just been disrupted by his feet. Shoving his cold feet into a pair of slippers, he wandered down the hallway after the young jounin all the while avoiding the puppies underfoot that were now determined to follow him. His hand was on the doorknob when a voice stopped him, coming from directly below.

"Master probably wouldn't like that."

The chunin looked down at the fairly large dog sprawled across the bottom half of the door, the Akita Inu in return giving a toothy grin. The puppies all gave yips of joy as they ran into the prone animal, crawling all over its body and making themselves comfortable.

"Keibi, Keibi, fun?" One of the pups asked from between the larger canine's paws, its short attention solely focused on the older being. At the suggestion the rest of the youngsters chorused in agreement, pushing and licking the older dog.

Yawning, the red colored dog nudged at the babies and turned his attention back onto Iruka, who was watching the interaction with a small smile. He cocked his triangle shaped head to the side and coolly watched the chunin for a moment out of unnaturally green eyes. "My Master does not wish to be disturbed. That is why I am here."

"I need to talk to him." Iruka's hand strayed towards the knob again and a deep growl erupted from the dog.

The puppies giggled a tumbled about a bit until another growl silenced them. "You will have to wait until Master wants to see you." Keibi said, standing and giving his whole body a shake, detangling the youngsters from his back and sides. "It is best to wait it out."

He trotted past Iruka into the living room, turning to look over his shoulder at the man. "I suggest you doing something more productive with your time, like eat or sleep." The canine grinned as the puppies cheered, the little voices filling the room and waking some of the lighter sleeping dogs who then snarled at the nuisances.

Iruka groaned as he walked back into the kitchen, plopping down into his chair and staring out the window at the pouring rain. _'If only it was nicer outside, I could shove all of these dogs outside and relax and think about what I can do about Kakashi being such a brat.'_

The chunin sighed and turned his head to watch the Akita stroll into the room and pull the refrigerator. His eyes widened slightly when he heard a plate placed on the floor and the canine mumbling about not having any fresh meat. "Are you just going to eat my food and ignore me?"

A snort came from behind the door before it closed, the plate laden with food clamped between its jaws. The dog walked over to the table and released its newly found meal and eyed Iruka. "I'm hungry. It's hard to guard things, and I can't go outside to hunt."

The chunin visibly gapped when the dog winked at him. "Be lucky it is only me who's hungry. The rest don't have as choosy a palette and you would have had no food in a couple of minutes." The Akita snickered quietly to itself and jumped onto the other chair, gracefully making no sound as it landed.

"Where did Kakashi get all of you?" Iruka asked, watching the dog delicately lift a morsel of food and swallow it, "I thought he only had eight of you." He returned to the question he had originally asked Kakashi, hoping he would actually get a straight answer this time.

Keibi swallowed, the movement making the Konoha headband reflect silver for a moment, "We're bound to him. We all have our skills to help Master when he's in the field." His tail wagged for a moment, "He signed his name many times on the scroll for our help."

Iruka nodded and watched the puppies in the other room tumble over themselves, knocking into some of the larger dogs and getting a nip here and there. An older dog hobbled over, its headband tugged firmly over its eyes, and the other dogs paused for a moment as it found a more comfortable place and settled down, showing respect for their elders.

"But why does he need so many of you? Iruka asked, leaning back on the two legs of his chair, his slipper covered feet hanging limply as they barely touched the ground.

"It is so Master can handle every matter thrown in his path. You never know when you'll need a pup to calm a noble's child, or someone to go undercover to find out secrets. People don't usually pay attention to dogs, especially when our headbands and such are stripped."

The Akita glanced over its shoulder at the rest of the pack before jumping off the chair and motioning for Iruka to follow it to the front of the house. "I wish to speak with you outside, before that horrible Pakkun finds his way in here and stops me from talking." The dog rolled its eyes as it thought of the other summon.

Iruka paused at the front door, pulling on his rain jacket and boots again as he held the door open for the canine. The chunin sighed when he saw the dog wasn't going to just stand outside the house so he followed it as it trotted off into the storm, it's white undercoat making it slightly easier to find in the murky weather.

"Where are you taking me?" He grumbled, pulling his coat tighter around his body, grimacing after he stepped in another puddle that the dog had leaped over.

The Akita paused for a moment under a store awning, seeming to silently laugh as Iruka grumbled, and scratched behind its ear. "I'm taking you to Ichiraku. It's the last place the idiot pug would look, and Master can find me if he needs to. It is one of his favorite places."

Digesting this information, Iruka pushed bad the sodden flap of fabric and took a seat on one of the stools, his bones thawing from the heat from the grills. Ayame turned and gave a smile after ordering Nishi and Matsu to clean up the mess they created, and skipped over to the counter.

"Hello, Iruka-sensei. I wouldn't imagine you to be out in this weather." She sighed, "The only reason I'm here is because father is making me work." A glare was aimed at the old man working behind her. "So what would you like?"

Before the tired chunin could order his lunch, for it was only around one in the afternoon, Ayame squealed and reached out to pat Keibi who had just jumped up on the seat next to Iruka.

"Aw! Iruka-sensei, is he yours?" She asked, turning and speaking baby talk to the dog, which seemed like he was enjoying it. "He's so adorable! And he has such good manners, look, he's not even jumping over the counter!" Ayame gushed, turning to her father and sending a dirty look, "See, dogs can be good! I'm going to get one next time I leave and you can't say no!"

The man simply grunted in reply and prepared Iruka's order, which he knew from heart from all the visits.

"Actually," Iruka smiled and scratched his nose nervously, "He isn't my dog. He is one of Kakashi-sensei's Ninken. But he is very well mannered." He allowed himself to finally give in to the appeal and pet the fluffed dog, which seemed to be beaming under all the attention.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei." Keibi said as he turned to Ayame, "And if it isn't a bother, could I have a bowl of Tonkotsu ramen?" The Akita licked its chomps as the girl nodded and turned back to her father, leaving the canine and human in private.

Iruka sighed and took his coat off, draping it on the other chair next to him. "So, what did you need to tell me that couldn't have been said in my nice, warm, dry house?"

"Well…it's more a matter of ask and tell." It shifted uncomfortably, "Master has been ageing, which is strange in itself, but we, as a pack, wanted to inform you of the coming stage in Master's life, since it was a hard time in our lives and it will undoubtedly be hard in the coming days."

The dog paused as Ayame came back with their orders, receiving a scratch on the head before she turned back to argue with her father over something.

"As most know, since rumors get around, my Master was a part of the elite group known as the ANBU." Iruka leaned closer, wondering what this would have to do with him taking care of the younger man. The Akita sighed and stared into its cloudy soup, turning back to the chunin after a moment.

"Master was very…strange during that time." It paused again, "I do not understand human emotions, nor do I try even after all these years, but Master often told us he felt empty or cold after his team completed missions." It cocked its head towards the chunin, "You must understand, since you are human, so perhaps you could explain it to me so I can explain it to the rest?"

Iruka stared at the wood counter as the dog started its ramen, his thoughts mulling together and turning into a mess much like the weather, "So, Kakashi-sensei was under twenty years old and already an ANBU captain?" He asked quietly, seeing the dog from the corner of his eye nod.

He slurped up a couple of noodles, thinking over the information given to him. "He felt like a machine…" Iruka whispered quietly, knowing the Akita heard, his hand around the chopsticks tightening slightly. "Kakashi-sensei, if I recall correctly, had no real teammates since he lost them at thirteen…" He paused again, his mind in teacher mode, "So he refused to get closer to anyone in fear of losing them too."

The Akita nodded and opened its mouth to respond, but then it suddenly stopped and turned to stare outside, its ramen bowl licked clean of any liquid or food. Iruka was going to ask what was wrong but then the question was answered almost immediately as the old Team Seven came in through the rain, gasping and groaning to themselves as they tried to rid themselves of the water.

"My hair is ruined!" Sakura moaned, closing her umbrella that had seemed to have a malfunction along the way. "Naruto, this is all your fault!"

The blond pouted and grabbed onto Sasuke's arm, which was halfway out of the coat's sleeve, "Is not! We have to tell him, even if he doesn't want to hear! It's the only choice!"

"Maybe for your little brain to think of!" Sakura stuck out her tongue.

"I can be right sometimes, Sakura-chan!" Naruto followed suit.

Sasuke sighed and pulled off his coat the rest of the way, "I don't think it matters, but we should tell him before he figures it out and kills the whole village." He threaded his free arm through his hair and stopped when he spotted Iruka and a large dog staring at him.

His eyes widened comically and Iruka almost thought that the stoic Uchiha was going to faint. Instead, he tugged gently on Iruka's hand that was still grasping his arm and pointed towards the chunin as stealthily as possible, which wasn't quite since the ramen stand was quite small and they were only a foot or two away from the other party.

A girlish scream was the answer.

The Akita hopped down from its stool and shot a look at the blond who had shrieked so…femalely, and nodded to Iruka. "I shall possibly continue this conversation with you later, sensei." The dog them trotted into the rain and disappeared as quickly as a ghost.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at the hyperventilating Naruto, wondering why she stuck together with the moron before turning towards her past teacher, her hands folded in front of her demurely. "Iruka-sensei? We know we shouldn't do this, but we have something to tell you.

"It happened four years ago…"

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Oh noes! What shall happen?

Actually, it's more like: What will Iruka's reaction be to the secret!

Review! It makes me think faster, and then write faster!

;D


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Bah, this chapter was such a pain to write. Literally, I spent over a week just trying to fix a little paragraph!

This is a super-special-chocolately-awesome-chapter!

Read my author's notes at the end of this chapter to find out why!

Also, what is this mysterious ticking?

:D

* * *

"We need to talk."

Sakura looked up from her paperwork to glance at the two people sitting on the other side of her desk. She sighed and placed her pen down, work would always come second to teammates who needed help. "What is it that is so urgent that you both had to come traipsing through this horrible weather to see me?"

Naruto swallowed and tightened his grip on Sasuke's hand for a moment before looking up. "Well…I was wondering if we could just…tell Iruka-sensei what happened?" He flinched when a tick went off over Sakura's left eyebrow.

"I mean," He continued, "If we just tell him then everything will make sense to him and he won't be so confused and angry at Kakashi-sensei." The kyuubi carrier sighed and shrunk into his chair, his hold on the other male's hand not slackening, "I have to tell you guys a secret from four years ago."

This caught the attention of the two other teens in the room. "Naruto, why are you suddenly bringing this up? Why now?" Sakura chewed on the tip of the pen she had picked up again, "It can't change the past so it can't help the future." She murmured, watching Sasuke's thumb stroke the skin on Naruto's wrist seemingly on its own.

"But this is something that can help Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei!" The blond exclaimed, shifting to the edge of his seat. "Sandaime told me not to tell anyone. This was something that even the villagers weren't allowed to know. But if it will get Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei together…" Naruto wiggled the pinky finger of his free hand, coughing bashfully when both Sakura and Sasuke glared at him.

"Any way, back when Iruka-sensei was on the last day of changing back I went to the old geezer to see if he knew how Iruka-sensei was going to act after he was normal again. You know, incase he hated ramen or something like that afterwards, well," Naruto glanced over his shoulder at the doorway to make sure none of Sakura's co-workers was lurking nearby, "It turned out that Iruka had 'escaped' from Kakashi-sensei's care and was running from him in the rain."

He leaned back in his chair, lacing his two hands behind his head, "So me and the old man went looking for him, to make sure that Iruka-sensei wouldn't get hurt by doing something stupid." He paused again, staring at the ceiling for a moment. "Supposedly, he would do a lot of stupid things when he was younger…" Naruto shrugged and continued with his story, "As we were looking, Kakashi-sensei showed up.

"I had to pretend to be Konohamaru." He deadpanned, his face twisting into a grimace.

Sakura sighed and took the pen out of her mouth, grimacing when she noted the small chew marks littering the top surface. "Naruto, is there a point to this? I have a lot of work that Tsunade-sama dumped on me, and I was hoping to catch up on it today since it's raining."

A pair of blond eyebrows wriggled like captured caterpillars, conveying the devious thoughts. "Well…" A toothy Cheshire cat grin blossomed on his lips. "Turns out that Iruka-sensei has a thing for older men." He chortled and watched as the confusion in his teammates eyes changed to understanding and then to morbid curiosity.

Sakura put her pen down once more. Gossip was always a good reason to put off work, and gossip that only a few people were privy to made whatever Naruto was about to say worth its weight in gold. "Naruto, what do you mean?" She leaned eagerly on the edge of her chair.

"Turns out he kissed someone." The eyebrows were now looking like Gai-sensei's with the ferocity of their movement.

Sasuke turned a pasty color and looked at the male next to him. "Jiraiya?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to blanch, coughing and hitting his chest with his fist. He looked up and small tears had formed at the corners of his eyes, "Why would it be that pervert?"

"You did say older men." Sakura said with disgust still laced underneath her comment. She had dry heaved a little when Sasuke made the inquiry, speaking what she had been thinking, but neither of the teens opposite of her had noticed when she quickly ducked behind her desk for a moment.

"No, it was Kakashi-sensei!" The blond said, a smile blossoming over his features. He rocked back in his chair, bumping into Sasuke's shoulder, which he quickly kissed in apology.

The reactions of his teammates were priceless. At the same moment Sakura screamed, "Inconceivable!" Sasuke nodded and muttered, "Of course." This, in turn, made them glare at each other from in between the table, Sakura snorting out her nose and Sasuke coolly staring back.

Naruto watched them for a moment, proud of creating this brand of discord, before he stood and stretched. "It's not like it matters how it happened, or why it happened." He yawned and scratched at his stomach, "All that matters is that it did happen and we have to tell Iruka-sensei."

"We can't tell him that!" Sakura's head whipped from its staring contest with Sasuke to focus on kyuubi vessel. "Do you have any idea what Iruka-sensei would do! He doesn't remember anything about four years ago. You can't tell him he had an affair with Kakashi-sensei!

"I don't think they even like each other!" She paused to close her eyes and take in a deep breath. "Well, at least, I don't think Iruka-sensei likes Kakashi-sensei that way. This does explain why Kakashi-sensei always acts a little different when Iruka-sensei is in the same room."

"We need to plan things out a little more before we tell Iruka-sensei." Sasuke said as he stood, one hand holding his umbrella, the other reaching for the clasps on his jacket to close it. "It's not every day a full grown man is told he is in love with another man."

Naruto frowned, "They can't be in love…"

"But they could be." Sakura said as she stepped from behind her desk, grabbing her hair and pulling it out form underneath her jacket. "I mean, if Kakashi-sensei still remembers something that happened over four years ago maybe Iruka-sensei will understand his own feelings after we tell him the truth." She frowned at the umbrella Naruto shoved into her hands, but shrugged and started to walk into the hallway.

"Let's talk this over at the Ichiraku." Naruto's stomach growled, "Maybe Ayame can help us make a plan."

He hooked his arm with Sasuke's so they would be underneath the same umbrella, leaving Sakura to follow them. The blond kept chuckling and looking back at his other teammate, thus warning his companion of the imminent disaster.

Halfway through the journey, Sakura's umbrella suddenly made a snapping noise as it flipped inside out.

"Naruto, I'm going to kill you!" She screamed, fire blazing in her eyes as she chased both teammates, Sasuke by association. "You knew this was going to happen! This was the reason why you wanted us to tell him and go out in the rain!

Sakura paused for a moment, the rain soaking deeper into her clothing. "No, you're not that smart."

"Nah, Sakura-chan, why are you so mean to me. It's not like you got hurt or anything!" Naruto said as he ducked underneath the wet flap of fabric before it hit his head. He stomped his feet a couple of times, shaking his head to rid it of excess water.

"My hair is ruined! Naruto, this is all your fault!" Sakura groaned as she tried to close the tampered-with umbrella, finally yanking it closed with a grunt of effort. The kunoichi pushed a hand through her tangled, wet hair, grimacing at the movement.

Naruto sighed and grabbed Sasuke's arm as an extra precaution, ignoring the glare that was aimed at him as the Uchiha had to attempt to take his jacket off now with only one arm. "Is not! We have to tell him, even if he doesn't want to hear! It's the only choice!" He said, finally answering Sakura's previous accusation of why he dragged them all out in the rain.

Sakura frowned, "Maybe for your little brain to think of!" She stuck her tongue out as the final word.

"I can be right sometimes, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shot back, his tongue sticking out in response to her challenge.

Sasuke sighed at the actions of his teammates, thanking the gods for the small blessing that Naruto has finally let go of his arm. Slipping of his coat he rested it on his arm, ""I don't think it matters, but we should tell him before he figures it out and kills the whole village." He revealed his hidden thoughts on the subject as he, too, pushed his hands through his rain tangled hair in an attempt to fix it.

A tremor of fear racked his body as he caught Iruka-sensei and a large dog staring at him sedately from the seats near the counter. _'Do they know what we were talking about?'_ He thought, eyes widening as he thought of what the teacher would do if he knew what they were talking about.

The Uchiha tugged on Naruto's arm to get his attention, not wanted to face the wrath of their past teacher by himself. Of course, Naruto acted as maturely as he was thought to be.

Screaming like a little girl at the discovery of Iruka sitting only a couple of feet away form him, right after he revealed a major secret concerning his sexuality.

Very mature.

"I shall possibly continue this conversation with you later, sensei." The three teammates watched in confusion as the _dog_ talked to Iruka, jumping off the chair and walking into the rain. The only dogs they knew that actually talked were Kakashi-sensei's, but why would his dogs be running around like normal animals?

_'He'sgoingtokillus,He'sgoingtokillus,He'sgoingtokillus.'_ Naruto thought over and over again in his mind, his breath quickening at the imagined anger from his favorite teacher.

Sakura raised her eyebrow at Naruto, who was clutching to Sasuke like he was his last lifeline. Iruka obviously couldn't know what they were talking about, since he had been in the dark for a little over four years. "Iruka-sensei? We know we shouldn't do this, but we have something to tell you."

It was the moment that everyone in the village was warned against by the Sandaime. The moment that would decide the future happiness of the two most respected teachers in Konohagakue. The moment of truth that would either create the most sought after pairing of all the women in the village, to spy on of course, or the most heated loathing ever imagined between two people.

"It happened four years ago…"

* * *

Iruka stared at the table for a moment, letting the words sink in. "So you're saying that the entire village kept this from me for four years?" He asked, swirling his cup and staring at the murky liquid as the particles from Tsunade's medicine settled.

His three past students shifted in their seats, Naruto refusing to make eye contact, as the other two remained silent. "We thought you should know the truth." He said quietly, his hands twisting in his lap.

"It's a fine thing you three told me now so I wouldn't go through the rest of my life not hearing it from someone else." Iruka spat out, causing the teenagers to flinch at the rebuttal. "You're just lucky I figured out that something like this had happened before you told me, or else I really would be furious."

Sakura glanced up from the spot on the floor she was looking at, "You mean, you knew?" Her pink hair hung limply around her eyes, having not been properly dried or combed out after the trek form Ichiraku to Iruka's house.

Iruka snorted, shaking his head, "I probably figured it out a couple of weeks after I was back at work. A week was suddenly missing and everyone kept asking about my childhood." The chunin drained the rest of his cup and placed it on the table before he relaxed in his chair. "Though the little interlude with Kakashi is new." He shot a glare at the blond sitting across from him.

Naruto blushed at the small barb, reaching for Sasuke's hand underneath the table and sighing slightly when he found the other genin's hand nearby. "Iruka-sensei, we didn't mean to hurt you, but you needed to know."

Before he could continue his apology a soft woof was heard from one of the dogs, they had been ostracized to the living room when the four of them had tromped through the door, and a mumbled tenor was heard replying to the animal's inquiry. A couple more of the canines whimpered, seeking attention, and the scrambling of nails on the floor was heard as they hurried to be touched by their summoning master.

"Mah, I'll see you all later." Kakashi was saying as he walked into the kitchen, a silhouette of his body framed by a light coming from the other room. "Maybe I'll get you some food, for waiting for me." Happy yips and a couple of spoken words of joy followed his retreat into the other room.

All jaws present dropped at the picture presented by the Kakashi that was an older, more mature teenager.

Wearing only a pair of sweatpants, the toned body of Kakashi was present for all to see. A few scars covered his body, obviously the missions he was in command of were not that serious yet, but they crossed over the rippling muscles that were the makeup of his body frame. He carried himself differently than everyone else present in the room, silently but with an aura of power that hung around him like a cloak.

His students watched in awe, as every movement that Kakashi made seemed to be calculated to use the least amount of energy to the highest precision possible. This was their teacher before he even knew they existed, when he was the captain of an ANBU squad. In fact, he seemed to be making a good impression on Sakura especially.

"H-hello, Kakashi-san." She said weakly, her hand rising to give a shy wave. She tucked her hair behind an ear and blushed when the cool gaze of the older man landed on her for a moment.

"Oi." He said as he turned to Iruka, who was sporting a blush almost as serious as Sakura's. It seemed that the conversation involving him and the jounin in the past was still at the front of his mind.

"Keibi says you took good care of my Ninken." He bowed, causing the people at the table to notice for the first time that this younger Kakashi was more forward with starting conversations. "I'd like to thank you, and I was wondering if I could do anything to repay you."

Iruka swallowed and his fingers tapped along the surface of his furniture, his face burning darker. "N-nothing at the time." He closed his eyes in embarrassment when Naruto started giggling nearby, his blond head burrowing into Sasuke's shoulder in a futile attempt to smother his laughter.

"Ah…" The younger jounin scratched behind his head, giving another show of his ripped body to the kitchen inhabitants, "In that case, I'll go back to my room. Call me if you need me." He turned and walked back, most likely hearing the sigh from Sakura at his retreating figure.

The pink-haired girl turned to the brunet in the room, her eyes shimmering brightly, "Iruka-sensei, you have to be the luckiest person in the village!" Her hands clasped in front of her chest in glee, squirming back and forth in her chair. "If Kakashi-sensei was that dreamy when he was younger, imagine the body he's hiding when he's older!"

Naruto, on the other hand, took a different root, "Man, Kakashi-sensei is strong! And that's with less experience! Think of all the techniques he's been keeping secret from us! We definitely have to ask him to train us harder when he changes back!"

"I think you guys need to get out of here." Iruka said, sitting up from his chair and traveling over to the sink to drop his cup in. "I've had a long day and I feel like getting to sleep soon." He walked them over to the door, sighing when he looked into the living room and saw the huge pack of dogs still lounging there.

"It's so cold out here!" Naruto whined, snuggling into Sasuke's coat and trying to close the fabric so he would be protected from the sudden shill outside. "I hope it snows tomorrow!" He said, beaming when the Uchiha wrapped his arms around him and closed the jacket easily for him.

Sakura slipped on her winter boots and walked outside towards her teammates, holding the malfunctioning umbrella in her hand as she waved back at Iruka with the other. "Iruka-sensei, if it snows tomorrow we'll come over with everyone else! I'm sure Lee would love it!" She blushed as she thought of the green-clothed teen she had been seeing for a couple of months now.

"Yes, yes, if it snows tomorrow I'll see you all, now get going." Iruka waved at them as the walked away, only closing the door when he couldn't see them in the dark any longer. Sighing, he leaned against the door and slid down it, finally sitting on the floor and looking at his house that had changed so much from only five days ago.

No longer was it spotless. Dogs lounged on every available surface, shedding hair and dirt on carpets and furniture. His kitchen was a mess, numerous items scattered across the counters and the sink was almost full from him not doing a load of dishes for a couple of days. The bedrooms were a disaster, a few of the dogs having wandered in there, and the blanket that Kakashi had dropped earlier was now being used as a pillow for a huge dog.

Resting his head back against his cool door, Iruka didn't even notice something was approaching him until a warm body pressed up against him and a cold nose pushed against his neck momentarily. He glanced down at a familiar red body, the cloth collar around its neck missing along with its headband so that it looked like any other normal dog on the street.

"Master didn't sign for me just because I can guard doors." Keibi said, his head resting in Iruka's lap, his eyes staring upwards in an unreadable expression for a moment, "I guard other things that can't be seen or felt. Like secrets and my Master's feelings." The Akita sighed softly when Iruka's hand rested on the crown of his head, stroking softly over and over again.

"I can ask for everyone to leave except the stupid pug." The dog said cautiously, its ear swiveling to take in a muffled yip from one of its pack mates. "I can then talk to you and explain some concerns of mine about my Master."

Iruka's hands paused for a second before giving a final pat to the Akita's head, a signal for him to get up. Brushing at his damp clothing, he nodded. "That would probably be for the best, thank you, Keibi."

The dog stood and shook, licking his lips as he trotted into the living room. A couple of growls were heard but then, with a poof of smoke, most of the dogs disappeared. The remaining dogs who had been lounging seemed to be part of Kakashi's original pack of eight, and they slunk into the room he was using for the time being, leaving the Akita behind to converse with the teacher.

Iruka grimaced as he sat down, rubbing his teeth over the slight film covering his teeth as he waited for the dog to sit in the seat opposite. "You said that Kakashi felt empty around this time period in his life. That he wouldn't let anyone get close?" He asked, trying to remember the details of the last conversation in the ramen stall.

"Yes, but it was strange…" The dog stared at the chunin for a moment as if debating weather to reveal its vast knowledge of the copy-nin, "To keep people away, and to try and fill his empty feeling, my Master would do many things that I have come to understand that it is something you humans do not like?"

Iruka shrugged, "There are many things people don't like, it depends on what he did."

The dog wrinkled its nose and sneezed, "He would have many…partners." Keibi looked in another direction, determined not to look at the teacher. "Master says he has to live life for the moment, since he is a ninja and could die at any moment." The unnatural green eyes focused on Iruka, waiting for a response.

The chunin's mind stuttered over the thought of a promiscuous Kakashi for a moment, trying to imagine the man he knew having a new bedmate every night of the week. "I'm sure he doesn't do that anymore." He said slowly, musing over the thought, "And I'm sure many of the more experienced ninja had this type of mentality when they were younger."

Keibi nodded, scratching behind his ear for a second before giving a little shake and rearranging his weight. "This changed after Master grew older and understood death, but he is at the stage where he does not have…emotions. He does not think about what it is he is doing, only as long as he does it.

The dog shifted when Iruka looked up, "He is like a book of facts and instructions, but with nothing behind them. Master needs someone to realize that he cannot joke or enjoy someone's company vocally right now. Master would much rather sit and think of the past rather than prepare for the future, unless that future involves the death of himself or the Konohagakue's enemies."

The brunet rested his elbows on the table, trying to digest all the information that had been fed to him in the last minute or two. "So, Kakashi doesn't have basic human compassion or emotions? How is that even possible?"

The canine snorted out its nose, "Master has gone through many things in his life that did not end well for him. After a while he just began to block them out and rely on us, his Ninken, to guide him through life.

"Please, do not think less of him when he becomes older." The Akita jumped down from the chair obviously stating the conversation was over by its body language, "Master learns from his mistakes. He just hides why he had to learn them in the first place." With a quick bow of the head, the dog trotted off deeper in the house, most likely to sit in front of Kakashi's door again.

Iruka sighed as he leaned back in his chair, one hand going back to massage at the base of his neck. This had been a long day, starting with Kakashi being a brat and training very early, and it was already the next day and here he was, still not asleep. His eyes drifted shut as he thought of what his students had told him earlier.

Unbidden, he felt a wetness form at the corners of his eyes just from all the stress he was going through. It was almost torture. Iruka wished that he never had gotten roped into this, that Tsunade could have found someone else to dump this assignment on. Someone who would want to fall in love with Kakashi!

He paused his angry trail of thought when a throat was cleared from the doorway, causing his brown eyes to gaze at the jounin. Iruka pushed back from his table and stood, bowing slightly, "I hope I didn't wake you, Kakashi-san." He said quickly, aware that he probably looked like a mess with a blushing face and a couple of stray tears smeared over his cheeks.

"Mah, I was up already." The other man said before turning back to retreat into his room. He paused and looked back at Iruka, who had been following so he could collapse on his own bed. Kakashi's eye clouded over for a moment as the chunin stumbled past him, his single grayish blue eye watching the other man's every movement.

Closing his own door quietly, he slid down to the floor against the wall, welcoming the heat of his elite Ninken as they crawled over his body to try and ease his suffering. Kakashi gripped at his chest in a futile effort to stop the pain that had been forming there all evening. It hurt more than any of the wounds he had ever received, bleeding from the inside out.

"Why does it hurt to see him cry?" He asked quietly to the room, not expecting an answer.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I am now giving you, the reviewers, the chance to ask me any question you want pertaining to my works or me!

It can be something mundane, such as my favorite color (orange), or something mildly important such as if I have another fanfic in the works (yes, yes, I do). It's now your chance to find out what you really want to know!

So send in those questions! I'll post all the answers in the author's notes of my next chapter, which is already half written.

And as always, review. It makes me force myself to be bitten by the muse!


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Wow, sorry this took so long, and it's a little shorter than usual, but I've been really busy.

I just finished work, and I'm taking vacation before I go back to school, so expect another chapter in the next week at least. Because I feel like trying to finish this story as a whole before Christmas. So I can start other…"awesome" things.

Also, all questions you guys asked me will be answered in the ending Author Notes. Hope you like them.

;D

_(D: Mah, I break pages! D:)_

Humming softly to himself, a catchy song that Sakura was always singing under her breath, Iruka stepped out from his shower. He grabbed a towel and pulled his hair back in an attempt to wring the excess water out. As he was reaching the end to the song, where he always messed up, Iruka felt small pinpricks on his ankle.

"Pickles-chan, I'll be out to feed you in a little bit. You can last that long, right?" He asked the calico on the ground, not even looking down to make sure he was correct in his assumption. After all, who else would be sneaking in on him showering except his female cat?

Pulling up a pair of boxers he had remembered to bring in with him, Iruka looped his towel around his neck and finally glanced down at Pickles, who was now pacing in a circle. "Let's get going, since you're obviously fading away to nothing." The cat gave a sneeze and scurried out the door when the chunin opened it enough.

Trying to follow, Iruka was pushed to the side as a body moved past his own. Blinking for a moment, he had to regain his bearings before he identified the sound coming from inside his bathroom as someone emptying their stomach. Iruka pushed his hand through his wet hair, leaning against his hallway's walls trying to comprehend what was happening before pivoting on his foot and walking towards his kitchen in hopes of getting a cup of coffee and waiting for Kakashi to appear for questioning.

"You've got nothing to eat."

His head snapped towards the small pug sitting on his table, whose ugly, squished face was frowning in his direction. Scowling as he pulled out a chair, Iruka watched the pug as it continued to glare back at him.

"Where did Keibi go?" He asked while looking around the room as if hoping the guard Akita Inu would suddenly pop up.

Pakkun scratched behind his ear with a grunt, "That idiot is back with the rest of the pack like he's supposed to be." He yawned and shook his head, "I don't know why he wasn't listening to Kakashi, but I guess we all have our little quirks.

"Now when are you going to feed me? I know that pup isn't going to, too busy with other things at the moment."

Iruka followed the canine's eyes as they rested on the bathroom door, where the sound of Kakashi dry heaving continued to echo weakly from the other side. Standing up from where he was sitting, the chunin opened up his fridge and found a couple of containers of old ramen, which he promptly chucked into the garbage, and some other foodstuffs.

He whipped around when he heard the front door click shut, but Pakkun shot him a look that warned him not to follow. "Leave the kid alone for a while, Iruka-sensei." The pug said, little brows furrowing, "He needs to figure some things out this morning, but he'll be fine. He always is."

Iruka was silent as he arranged the sandwich, slapping a few pieces of just-turned bad meat along with wilted lettuce. He would have to go shopping soon, but his thoughts still remained on a single question, which slipped past his lips unbidden. "Does he do that often?"

The pug sighed and his small form seemed to shrink, "Kid thinks he needs to keep his weight down so he can be a better ninja." He said sullenly, glancing morosely at the plate Iruka placed in front of him, "He does it whenever he deems it necessary."

Before Iruka could rush out the door, find Kakashi and knock some sense into the late teenager, Pakkun stood on the table and gave a small growl. "Don't bother him. Kakashi has a way of learning from his mistakes, no matter how badly he comes out after making them."

"Do all you guys say that?" The chunin said as he washed some of the dishes in the sink, wrinkling his nose at some of the pieces of food that were still attached to the surfaces. "First Keibi, now you. Did Kakashi just make bad decision after another, acting like a blundering fool?" Iruka asked, laughing quietly at the image conjured, but sobered quickly when he noticed the Ninken wasn't joining in.

"Iruka-sensei, the brat has gone through a lot of things and most of them ended badly." The beady, black eyes regarded the man seriously, "You better not be another mistake for him to add to his tally, or else you'll be sorry."

With that final word of caution, the canine disappeared with a pop, leaving Iruka alone with his thoughts and another dish to load into the dishwasher.

_(D: Mah, I break pages! D:)_

"Hey, duck-butt!"

Sasuke turned at the insult to his hairstyle, he couldn't help that it stuck up that way, but it was too late to realize his error when a fistful of snow was launched into his face. Wiping it away with a quick flick of his wrist, the Uchiha glared at Kiba, who was riding Akamaru and laughing out loud at the mess he had made of the other's head.

Of course, this lapse in attention meant that Lee could do a fantastic move of acrobatic glory and pelt fifteen snowballs at the other boy. After this, the Gai-wannabe took shelter behind a large snowdrift, giggling to himself. Every once in a while he would peek over his fortress of solitude, wondering if Kiba would know that it was he, Rock Lee, who had been the machination of the other's downfall?

Since he was concentrating on the Inuzuka clan member, and not his back, he did not notice the ominous shadow drift over his hiding spot from behind.

"Oh, Lee-kun? The green-clad teen turned and was assaulted by the vision of beauty and pink, forcing him to blink back the tears that sprung to his eyes. "I just wanted to tell you something..." Lee nodded at the girl's inquiry, staring avidly at her lip-gloss covered lips.

"You're dead!"

And then Rock Lee got what was coming to him, a snowball thrown at point blank, forcing him into a sloppy backwards somersault. Except the humiliation of being taken down by Sakura wasn't finished, because then she and Tenten tied up said boy and started shoving snow down into his snow gear.

"I am slightly horrified at what I'm seeing right now." Iruka said, clutching a cup of cinnamon cider in his hands. "Is this what you guys do all the time, or is the snow a new reason for you all to act like toddlers?"

Naruto shrugged and slurped loudly at the ramen bowl balanced on his lap. His hair was still damp, he having been one of the first casualties of the snow war, and he had changed into an extra pair of clothing he had left at Iruka's a few weeks ago. When the last noodle disappeared he sighed and leant back, finally choosing to respond, "Nah, Iruka-sensei, I think we're all going a little crazy because there's snow."

The kyuubi holder suddenly jumped up and stretched, "I have to go shopping and get a kimono for the festival!" Without a backwards glance he raced off to save Sasuke, who was fighting off Neji, who had somehow trapped him up in a tree.

Watching his past students congregate into a cluster of warm bodies before they all headed off into the shopping district of Konoha, Iruka sighed and leaned back against the wall of his house. His thoughts turned to the winter festival that was being held in honor of the first snow, held whenever it happened, since snow and cold weather of any sort in the fire village was very rare.

_'With just my luck, Kakashi will be changing back a day or two before the festival is actually in swing, so that way I won't have to worry about him getting me in trouble.'_ Iruka ignored the small shard of something that seemed to lodge in the back of his throat when he thought of the jounin being full-grown and leaving.

Pouring the rest of his drink in the snow, which was almost three feet tall, he turned to go into the house and promptly stumbled over a sniffling lump right in front of his door. The white puppy stared at him for a moment with two different colored eyes, the thick fur ruffling in the brisk wind and the black ears swiveling this way and that, before crouching down further, its tightly coiled tail shivering slightly.

"Ohayoo gozaimasu, sensei-sama." The dog's head lowered even more, "My name is Ooyuki. I was wondering if you knew where my Master went?"

Iruka stared, trying to figure out why Kakashi would have a puppy like this, before bending over to pick up the ball of fluff. The chunin sighed when he caught sight of his wet front; he had somehow fallen into a huge drift of snow, and resigned himself to taking a hot bath sometime later that day. Then he grunted and gave a little curse when Pickles tried to trip him, a retribution for letting her outside in this bad weather.

"Kakashi left early this morning, I'm sorry I can't help you." Iruka said breathlessly as he flopped down onto the little step, peeling off his wet clothes and boots. Glancing to the right, and seeing the puppy shrink even smaller, a sick little jolt went off in his heart. "If you want, you could stay here and wait for him to come back?"

A brief pause and the puppy nodded solemnly, giving a quick shake afterwards that almost toppled it. "Desu, sensei-sama. That would be much appreciated." The small canine stumbled over its large feet as it turned to walk deeper into the house, its body still hunched over as if preparing for an attack at any moment.

Taking a few steps, and over taking the little canine, Iruka felt his body relax as soon as he walked into the kitchen, his safe zone. "Do you need anything while you wait for mast-Kakashi?" Iruka blushed as he thought about what he almost said, washing his cup in horrified silence.

"I shall be fine." The puppy said, collapsing underneath the table, focusing its bi-colored eyes on the chunin as he paced around the room. "Master shall return shortly and then I can go see him." Ooyuki's head lowered to rest on the two small paws held primly in front of its body.

The two sat in silence for a while, Iruka nursing a new cup of coffee in an effort to fight of the fatigue that suddenly hit him. It was when he was taking another small sip, it was quite hot, and when a sharp yip caused him to spill it over the paper he had been reading.

"Sensei-sama? Master is back home, but he doesn't feel…right." The puppy said anxiously, grabbing a mouthful of Iruka's pants and tugging him over to the hallway.

Pushing open the door slowly, and waiting for a kunai to be lodged in his throat, Iruka sighed when he noticed a lump lying on the bed. Stopping to pick up the puppy, that was whimpering loudly now that it saw its master, the chunin crept over to the prone body, hoping that his breathing wasn't too loud.

The pale light from the afternoon sun floated through the hastily drawn drapes, twinkling motes floating lazily, though a few swirled in tight circles from Kakashi's obvious teleportation jutsu. The jounin himself looked unremarkable, dressed in his normal uniform while sprawled out across a bed that was not his own. In fact, the only things that seemed out of place were the clenched hands of the man, creating small, permanent crescent marks on each palm.

Spotting this, and being naturally curious of the man, Iruka took a couple more steps forward with Ooyuki clamped to his chest, ignoring the little pants of the puppy as he tried to struggle from his grip. Only when the small canine nipped him on his arm did Iruka finally let go, watching in fascination as the animal stumbled over the covers.

"He feels bad." Ooyuki said, rubbing his body over the only visible skin of Kakashi's body, near his eyes. A blue eye with a yellow trained themselves on the only other living thing in the room. "You have to help Master. The others are all gone, sensei-sama."

Sighing, he couldn't say no to the puppy, Iruka moved the rest of the distance to the bed, sitting down on the mattress after a moment of debate. "Do you know what is wrong with him?" He asked, dragging his eyes away from the pale eyelashes that rested gently against the tops of white cheeks.

"No." The puppy sighed and sat roughly onto its back legs. "But you have to know. You are a human."

Groaning at the shimmering eyes that were aimed at him, the chunin leaned over to push Kakashi onto his back. Giving a gasp at the sheer weight of the other man, he was taller than Iruka and more muscled, the brunet finally flipped him over, lying sprawled over his body as he heaved in a couple mouthfuls of air.

From his new position, Iruka could see suddenly why people would want to see underneath the mask. If the man's face was this beautiful close up, and covered, he could barely imagine what he would look like without the black cloth shielding the rest of his face. Taking a few more second before he sat up, the chunin blushed when he noticed that his traitorous eyes lingered at bit too long for comfort on the other's lips.

The puppy stared at him, understanding in its eyes, before standing and giving a little shake. "Now that I know Master is back, I can return to the others." Ooyuki gave a small bow, little nose pressing against the sheets for a second, prior to shooting a wink and obnoxious grin to Iruka as he disappeared.

Paling at the look the small canine gave him, Iruka turned back to the bed to find a pale blue eye staring at him. Ignoring the thought in the back of his mind, wondering how Kakashi's eye color seemed to change with his emotions, the chunin leaned onto one hand so he could be closer to the prone man.

"Are you alright, Kakashi-san? One of your Ninken, Ooyuki, said that you weren't feeling well?"

The single eye focused on Iruka for an instant as it scanned the room, finally halting its wanderings to stare dully up at the ceiling.

Blowing up a puff at the fringe of hair in his eyes, Iruka prepared himself to deal with a stubborn, possibly sick, jounin. "You left quite early this morning, and I don't know where you went, so I don't know what could be wrong with you."

The chunin academy teacher let a small grimace cross his features when he noticed Kakashi didn't even acknowledge his brief statement. His eyes lowered back onto the other man's face, tracing the few thin scars the crossed the bridge of the other's nose. "Kakashi-san? I need you to try and tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know how you feel. And the Hokage would get very angry if I don't take proper care of you, Kakashi-sa-"

He paused when two fingers pressed firmly, but softly, against his lips, forcing him into silence. The single eye, now darkened to a sleet gray, seemed to attempt to try and explain something to Iruka; the other man's lips were moving underneath the mask faintly. "Just call me Kakashi." The faint voice said, betraying how unwell the man felt at that point in time.

Then, as quickly as Kakashi seemed awake and lucid, it was suddenly lost as the jounin went limp on the bed.

Confused at the lose of the heat on his mouth, and blushing at his train of thought, Iruka shrugged off the arm that had landed as a dead weight on his shoulder. Tingling at the feeling that he was about to do something wrong, the chunin leaned closer to the jounin's face and could literally feel every inch that separated them.

"I only need to find out what's wrong with him. Nothing else." Iruka muttered quietly to himself as the hand he wasn't balancing on lifted to rest against Kakashi's forehead.

Finding it a bit warm, but not too much so, he sighed in relief and ran his hand down the side of the other's face, marveling silently at the paleness. Stopping in shock, Iruka pulled his hand back and stared at it in confusion. _'What am I doing?'_ He thought in despair, continuing to shoot looks at the sleeping jounin.

_'I should go and try to find my winter kimono. Get Kakashi out of my head.'_ Iruka nodded and moved to get up but paused when a hand grabbed his wrist. Turning, and trying to stop the frantic pounding of his heart, Iruka felt himself tense when he noticed that Kakashi was still asleep, acting on his instincts.

Tugging gently at the other appendage, a sinking feeling slowly rose.

But before he could act on it, Iruka was pulled down and yanked against a broad body. Even with all the fabric in between them he couldn't help but squirm as he felt the heat creep through his thin shirt. And the movement just caused Kakashi to drag him closer.

_'This doesn't mean anything.'_ Iruka thought, feeling his lack of sleep from the last week finally catching up. He stifled down a yawn and let himself snuggle against the jounin's chest, glancing up to see the underside of Kakashi's face. _'I'll just explain to Kakashi what happened and he'll understand.'_ The chunin sighed and tried to ignore the way his body fit perfectly with the others.

_'He better wake up quickly…'_ Iruka drifted off into a light nap, attempting to take no notice of the way his heart seemed lighter and yet fuller at the same time.

_(D: Mah, I break pages! D:) _

**Author's Notes**

pringlebunny - My favorite fic? One I could recommend the most, eh? I think it would have to be any type of fic that is well-written and has a great plot. It doesn't matter to me if it's AU or not, I love them all.

biacebaolck – Mah, questions all about fanfiction, I should have guessed. Oh well, I might as well answer. I first started writing fanfiction when I was twelve, I think, a horrible, really horrible, Yu-Gi-Oh fic. It was so bad I took it off since I didn't plan anything after the 3rd chapter. Improving was just to keep writing, no matter what. My "writing process"? D: I think of an idea, tinker with what characters would go best in the situation, then plan out what I was to happen at the end of the fic. Everythign in between is filled in at some point during the writing. Not that scientific or well thought-out, eh?

Jazz-jazz011 – Pairings? Uh, in the Naruto fandom I can't get enough of SasuNaruSasu, though there really aren't a lot anymore. Thus why I'm going to be writing one, only you didn't hear it form me. Also, GenmaRaido and AsumaKurenai are some of my other guilty pleasure.

kattmad – My favorite Naruto character is a tie between Hayate Gekko and Ibiki Morini, why I like them I don't really know. I squee like a fan-girl whenever they come on screen, leading to looks form the surrounding people watching. I just want to give them hugs!

shuichi'sgirl – Oh! Your question makes me blush! As for who would be seme? I don't think they would fight about it, per se, but make a compromise and…share? Iruka could "boss around" Kakashi during the day, aka fussing about his health, making lovely-dovey cuddles during the day, making him shop for groceries together while holding hands. Meanwhile Kakashi gets to have fun during the off-hours. Can anyone say acting out Icha-Icha scenes, including outfits:D

Chippy teh squirrel – I first got into yaoi at a young age, around eleven or twelve when I stumbled upon a HarryDraco fic. I couldn't stop blushing! As for KakaIru, I always knew they were a pairing from the first time I saw them, again, more blushing. D.C.1 stands for DreamChaser, my nickname. The 1 is because wouldn't let me have it without the number. XD

Ice Dragon3 – Yes! And easy question! I love you! My favorite animal in the whole world is sheep. They're so floofy and I just want to own a herd of them:3

Akai1506 – You flatter me so much when there are so many authors that write so much better than me! But to answer your question, I started writing a long time ago, to fill up time instead of being bored. My "style" is to make up a plan, follow it slightly, and write what I think would seem the most realistic course. I try to be most true to the characters when I'm not writing AU.

just a rambling romantic – I love your name! Haha, okay, the names of my characters? Well, all the cats in this story are based on my actual pet felines. Yes, I have a cat named Pickles. As for the other names…um, basic Japanese words that stand for what they do/are related to. I'm not that creative. :D

All right, that's it. Go review. Ask a question, and I'll answer it through the respond system for reviews.

And be ready for something by next Sunday. D:


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

...

Hi.

...

**GO.GO.GO.GO**

Iruka sighed as he pushed against the broad chest in front of him, half-heartedly fighting against the arms that tightened around his back. He glanced over his shoulder in an attempt to read the small clock on his dresser, flopping back when it was just out of his line of vision. Finding himself trapped, and seeing no other alternative, Iruka let his head drop back down onto the pillow and settled in for a wait.

His brown eyes traveled up the neck of Kakashi only stopping when they reached the edge of the mask that had slipped down an inch or two during the jounin's sleep. The chunin contemplated the slight expanse of cheek shown, idly tracing the visible scar with his eyes. The jagged skin snaked its way down from one eye, and Iruka unconscious of his hand tightening itself in the fabric of the other man's waistband. Grimacing at the feeling of sandpaper inside his mouth, he instead chose to remain for the moment trapped within the other's arms.

"_Yondeiru muneno dokoka okude, itsumo kokoro odoru yume wo mitai…"_

Groaning, Iruka buried his head into Kakashi's neck, refusing to listen to the song on the radio, which meant that the alarm had gone off. _'That means it's around eight in the morning, but I'm still so tired.'_ Iruka thought, so caught up in listening to the music alarm to realize that the arms around him had tightened by a miniscule amount, and that the muscles tensed in anticipation.

"_Kanashimi wa kazoe kirenai keredo, sono mukoude kitto anataniaeru…"_

Closing his eyes again, the pale, winter sun was bouncing off the wall and it was annoying him, the chunin missed the similar grimace of pain that crossed Kakashi's face as the weak sunlight hit his face direct on. A moment later a light blue iris was fully revealed as the pupil dilated to a smaller size. Automatically awake, the jounin suddenly quickly calculated where he was, and who was lying next to him. Also, near the back of his mind, he was trying to fight down the heat from a blush that was climbing up his neck.

"_Kurikaesu ayamachi no sonotabi hito watada aoi sora no aosawo shiru,"_

Iruka felt his eyes increasing their pressure in his skull, reminding him incessantly that he hadn't been sleeping for the past few days very well. He grunted and took another deep sigh in an attempt to get his body to relax enough to let it slip back into slumber. Maybe in another hour two he would get up, leave Kakashi in the bed, and go take another shower, last night's wasn't enough, and maybe see Naruto later on. All in all, a good day planned.

"_Hateshinaku michiwatsu-"_

Resisting the urge to snap his eyes open, Iruka experienced his body freezing in shock as he felt a clothed arm reach over his body to touch down on the alarm with a click of the plastic button. A muted exhalation reached his ears, almost a whisper, and it ghosted its way across his face, barely touching his features before it vanished.

A shift in the bed confused the chunin for a moment before he felt something land on his lower leg gently, wobbling for a moment before steeping over it to land on the blanket covering. A loud purring was heard a second before Iruka felt a large mass of fur place itself in between the two male's faces and settle in for the wait to see who would wake up and get food for the cat. Pickles-chan was notorious in the mornings.

Iruka's body refused to relax, remembering the hate the younger Kakashi had towards felines, and he hoped that the calico cat would still be alive in the next couple of minutes. He wasn't sure if he felt up to wrestling the jounin, who he had been forced to sleep next to, and saving a stray cat that decided this was her home. That good day he had planned was slowly running down the drain.

"Ma, who is this?" An amused drawl said from across the bed. A throaty meow was the response as Pickles stood and sauntered over, Iruka assumed, to position herself onto Kakashi's face. "You're a friendly one, aren't you?"

The warm arms around the tan chunin were pulled away and shuffling from the jounin moving was heard as he shifted. "I'm guessing you want food, eh?" Kakashi said quietly to the loudly purring feline, sitting on the bed with his legs straight out in front of him, Iruka could feel one of the legs running the front length of his own leg. A cracking sound was heard as the jounin stretched and moved, his feet making a muted noise on the hardwood floor as he stood.

The feet padded away and the door clicked closed, leaving Iruka all alone in his bed. Without realizing it, his fingers clutched deeper grooves into the cooling bed cover. His closed eyes slowly opened, only a sliver of brown showing in their depths before they focused groggily on his own hand fisted in the comforter. In the shadow created from his body, his dark hand seemed to almost merge into the dark blue fabric that made up his winter blanket, and the image was slightly disconcerting to the drowsy man.

"I should get up."

"I should get up right now, fix my bed, take a shower, and then go searching for that winter kimono I told myself I was going to do last night." He said, firmly refusing to let his mind drift to the gray-haired man and his feline in the kitchen. Iruka sat up slowly in bed, still not completely sure that Kakashi had left the room, "I think that it was in one of my boxes in the spare room." He mused to himself, allowing the light reflected off the undisturbed snow to warm half of his body.

With a slight grunt, the chunin pushed his body off the bed and quickly tugged on the blankets to have them form a warm cocoon around his body as he shuffled over to his drawers. Pulling out a soft pair of pajama bottoms, Iruka was sticking to his plan of not going outside today, he shimmied off the pants that should have never been worn to bed in the first place.

Pulling on a new shirt, Iruka contemplated a small stain near the collar that looked mysteriously like coffee from work. "I might as well add doing the wash to my list of things to do also." He said, sighing as he folded the blanket he had dragged off his bed and then dropped it near the end to form the foundation of a laundry pile.

Continuing his mental tally of things to do today, adding on more tasks like doing the dishes and maybe making something nice for dinner, he wandered into the kitchen ready to start his own day. Breakfast would be nice at nine in the morning, usually he was teaching brats this early.

Turning the corner, Iruka quickly stopped and scuttled back behind the corner, spying on the two occupants in the room.

Kakashi was standing at the counter with his back to the chunin, blatantly pretending to be oblivious to Iruka's presence since he wouldn't be a jounin otherwise. The large calico cat was cradled in one of his arms, the claws on one paw digging into the shirt's fabric, thus allowing the feline to rest her head on the broad shoulder.

"Mah, kitty, you eat a lot." He said quietly as he picked up another chunk of fish off the kitchen counter. "I don't think even I eat this much in one sitting." Kakashi mused, the feline kneading her paw into his shirt for more food. Purring filled the room as he turned and sat down at the table, Pickles-chan still in his arms, and his visible eye crinkled in delight as the cat

Iruka watched the interaction with a small smile on his face, until he realized Kakashi had fed over half a pound of a flounder fillet to a stray cat.

Clearing his throat, and drawing a throaty meow from his pet, the chunin walked into the room and glared at Kakashi. "You do know I was thinking of making that flounder for dinner." He said seriously, brown, slanted eyes meeting with the amused countenance of Kakashi. Pickles-chan was now standing on the table and rubbing her head against the jounin's chin.

Still glaring at the jounin, Iruka pulled out a chair and sat down with a huff. "Kakashi-sensei, how old are you?" He said suddenly with his eyes intensely focusing on the jounin as if he could pull the information out from the grey haired man without any further help.

The man in question leaned back in the chair he was sitting on, balancing on the back two legs, as his hands folded over his stomach. Instead of his vest, only his thin undershirt stretched over his abdomen. "Depends on why you are asking, Iruka."

Iruka's mouth opened and closed in misunderstanding. A deep blush slowly spread from the tan nose to slowly creep to the ears and then down towards the neck. _'Why would he only call me Iruka? Does this mean he thinks we did something, or did we do something? Didn't he hate me? Is this before the first chunin exams, or after? Maybe he thinks we-'_

Then his thoughts turn to something less suited for academy teachers' minds.

Kakashi watched with amusement as the chunin's face turned a darker shade of red, now looking like an over ripe, bruised, raspberry. His foot pressed gently against the leg of the table to keep his balance, and the calico cat slinked off the table to walk up the limb and settle herself back into the jounin's lap. It was only when a small nosebleed started to trickle out from one of Iruka's nostrils did Kakashi allow his chair to shift forward.

The resulting bang seemed to jolt the teacher out of his thoughts, and he quickly swiped a hand under his nose to erase the small trail of red that had almost reached his upper lip.

"Ah! Kakashi-sensei! I'm so sorry! I shouldn't have drifted off like that!" Iruka stood up and turned on the water to the sink, stacking plates nearby, "Maybe I should have listened harder! Or not asked as many questions! Oh, Kakashi-sensei!" He picked up the half-finished flounder and wrapped it and put it back into the refrigerator.

Before he could roll up his sleeves and jump into the work for the dishes, it was one of the things on his mental "to-do" list, a firm hand startled Iruka into dropping a dish underneath the scalding water.

"It's all right, Iruka-sensei." The title was now added to the end of the name, though a slight frown furrowed the pair of pale eyebrows. "I'm sure it was nothing.

"I'll just be going now." The jounin said as his hand slipped down and landed limply at his side as he walked a few steps. The sound of Pickles-chan running after him, her feet making small sounds on the floor.

Iruka whipped around, words about to be uttered on his lips, only to have them fall away when he saw the result of a teleportation jutsu in the adjacent living room. The cat was standing nearby, her eyes trained sadly on the curls of smoke as they drifted towards the ground. After a moment she turned, looking over her shoulder, and gave a morose meow in her owner's direction.

**GO.GO.GO.GO**

**Author's Notes**

...

Bye.

...


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

...

O hi guys.

Have fun reading, yes?

**GO.GO.GO.GO**

A wince shuddered through Iruka's body as he finished the dishes, having finished them only a couple of minutes after Kakashi suddenly left. He sighed as he looked at his hand, the scab that was a day or two old had peeled away while washing the dishes and a sluggish trail of blood was dripping into the dirty water.

Reaching down with his uninjured hand, he pulled out the drain and grabbed a towel nearby to wrap around the palm. He sighed and stepped over the cat, which was sitting in the middle of the hallway and staring at the spot where Kakashi has teleported. Though it had happened a little over an hour ago, Pickles-chan still remained there and Iruka was worried about the usually active cat not moving for such a long period of time.

Giving her a gentle nudge with his foot as he passed, eliciting a small grunt from the cat, the chunin continued on his way to the bathroom the patch up his hand thinking of the rest of the chores he had planned out.

"Let's see…" He murmured softly as he pushed open his bathroom door with his shoulder, "I finished the dishes, they're drying on the rack…Making dinner is out of the question." His thoughts returned to Kakashi feeding his cat in the kitchen and he scowled as he thought of the fish that was now residing in the feline's stomach.

Running his hand under lukewarm water, he shifted his weight so he could pop open the cabinets underneath the sink with his foot. Without missing a beat, having patched up more serious things than a little cut from working at the academy, the palm was soon bandaged in a white cloth and Iruka was walking into his room and glaring at the bed and the pile of clothing near the end of the piece of furniture.

Gathering the bedding and the clothing into a large lump, Iruka took one of the sheets and tied it around everything to form a sort of rucksack. With a sigh after throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweater, he heaved the bundle over his shoulder, and throwing a last look at Pickles-chan, who was still staring at the spot Kakashi had disappeared from; Iruka vanished with a puff of smoke.

Standing outside the dry cleaning store, and thankful that nobody was there to land on, Iruka pushed open the door. Last time he had used that jutsu he had accidentally landed on a mother who was bringing her unmentionables in to get cleaned. Iruka hadn't been able to look her in the eye at the parent-teacher conference the next day without a blush covering his features.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei. I haven't seen you in a while. Has everything been well?"

A smile crept over the chunin's features as the old woman behind the counter started blushing at his appearance, quickly hiding the magazine she had been reading. "Hello, Miss Kim. I know I haven't been coming in as often. I hope your business hasn't been hurting in the short time I have been missing?"

"Oh, no, dear. Actually," The woman's wrinkled features crinkled as she smiled like a little girl as Iruka moved towards the counter, "It seems that many of my customers were coming to the store because you were here.

"Of course, they were worried when you disappeared from here a couple of weeks ago, but I reassured them that this was the only place you took your laundry and whatnots." She smiled again at Iruka's laughter as he lifted his bundle onto the counter worn with age. "Child, one day you're going to get hooked by one of those ladies."

Iruka blushed at the sudden change in subject, rubbing at his nose with one of his fingers, "I don't think they're looking for me like that, Miss Kim. I'm sure they're just trying to get me to do something for the mission room, or asking me about their children's homework."

"Tsk, tsk, more of that ninja talk? Ah! Most of the women looking for you in here are civilians like me. They also seem to think that you are just waiting for the 'right girl' who can change your 'roguish ninja nature' and transform you into a loving father of two-point-five children." Miss Kim said as she untied the laundry, taking stock and sorting it before she started to count.

"A man who takes care of his appearance and also does the laundry, who isn't too old to care about kids…Personally, I'm surprised you haven't been tied, gagged and proposed to already."

She gave a low chuckle at the stunned look on the younger male's face, "You didn't know? Working with children at that academy of yours makes you a prime candidate for marriage." She flicked open a shirt and folded it before placing it in the neater pile forming next to her. "I suggest you settle down soon."

"This isn't something I should be talking about with you." Iruka chuckled, leaning against the wall and looking out at the people passing the store, quickly ducking when he saw a 'right girl' walk up to the store and peer in only to see her run back to where her friends were waiting.

Miss Kim stopped folding, placing her hands on the pile to lean forward in a conspiring manner, "That's what everyone says, dear. It never stops them, though." A small, more secretive smile appeared on her face as she went back to counting, "Of course, if you're already involved with someone I could tell them…?"

A snort went though the chunin as he reached behind to fish his wallet out of the back pocket, pulling out a couple of bills before snapping it closed with a clenching of his hand. "There is no one else. All I have is my job, my house, and Naruto to worry about. Besides, I don't want to worry myself with a woman who only wants to be with me because I can take care of her children and do the chores." He said despondently as he counted the paper notes, placing most of them on the counter.

"Now don't be that way, Iruka-kun. It's on the house today." Miss Kim said, placing a hand on the cash and sliding it back towards Iruka while ignoring his protests. "You only stated three things? Are you sure there is no one else? Perhaps just need to find the right type of company.

"How about that nice Hatake boy? He seems like someone you could depend on. He's also very handsome to boot." Miss Kim said as she blushed deeply at the thought of the jounin, tallying up the rest of the clothes and quickly turning around, leaving the chunin alone to muddle over the words the old woman just said to him.

Iruka spun around to stare out the window, grateful that there was not a soul outside to flinch at his darkened features. _'This is ridiculous. She couldn't have been insinuating what I think she was... That is, my thoughts shouldn't…'_ He scowled as his thoughts went blank as he tried to process the numerous trains of thought all centered on the silver haired man.

"It ridiculous, that's what it is." He muttered, suddenly feeling a lump form in his chest as he thought of Kakashi's smiling face from earlier in the day, his visible eye crinkling as Pickle-chan rubbed her head on his chin.

"Ahem."

A throat clearing jolted him out of his singular subject thoughts, and Iruka's wide, brown, eyes settled on the wrinkled figure still behind the desk.

"I'm sure you'll understand what you need someday, dear." Miss Kim said with her hands folded in front of her body. "Until then, though, I believe you'll just have to muddle through life the best you can." She walked out from behind the counter and handed Iruka a small slip of paper, patting him on the back with her frail hands as she led him towards the door.

"Everything will work out for the best. I'm sure of it." The woman smiled as Iruka walked out the door, the small bell above giving a tickling sound as it closed.

"If only you would open your eyes and see what is right in front of you." She sighed and plodded back to her counter to finish reading the magazine shoved underneath the cash register.

**GO.GO.GO.GO**

As Iruka stepped outside, he thought he heard Miss Kim say something behind his back, but instead of turning around and going back inside to investigate, he allowed himself to wander outside in the snow. The white substance crunched underneath him and it was only when he lost feeling in his feet that he realized that he forgot his shoes at home. Just as he was about to teleport, a snowball landed a couple of inches away from his body.

"S-s-sorry, Iruka-sensei!"

"Wha- Oh! Good afternoon, Mihashi-kun. What are you doing outside in this weather?" Iruka smiled at the flustered looking child, taking note of the boy's fidgety nature and how his eyes were fixed on the floor. "I hope you weren't aiming at me." He chuckled as he walked over to his student, his numbed feet no longer bothering him.

"Ah, n-n-no. I…I…I w-was just. Uh. I-i-it..." The hazel eyes were now looking everywhere but at his teacher and the snowball in the boy's hands was slowly turned to slush, being clutched in the warm hands so tightly.

"It's nothing, Iruka-sensei. I was just helping Mihashi-kun." A taller boy stepped out from behind a building, his black hair spiked wildly as his grey eyes stared steadily at the other boy, whose mouth was opening and closing like a fish. "He needs to work a little on his pitching."

Iruka smiled, giving a little nod and wave as he turned around, "All right, Abe-kun. Just make sure you both don't lose concentration on your studies. Baseball is a fun sport, but Mihashi-kun should also practice throwing his kunai instead of just his baseball."

The chunin chuckled when he looked over his shoulder, finding Mihashi hiding behind Abe before he transported back to his house.

"Pickles-chan?" He spoke softly, sighing a little bit as his frozen feet sunk into the plush, and warm, carpeting in his living room. "Does Pickles-chan want some dinner?" Iruka asked the dark house, cursing softly when he couldn't find the light switch for a few moments.

A meow was his answer when he asked again, the cat trotting out of Iruka's bedroom and giving a little shake as she walked. Without a moment lost, she rubbed up against his jeans and shook again when some snow landed on her body. Stooping over, he picked her up and cuddled against her warm fur before stumbling on tingling feet into his kitchen.

Looking at the empty bowl on the floor, and remembering the feline that was supposed to eat it, he dropped the cat on the table and picked up the phone. Punching in a couple numbers, and leaning against the wall, he waited for someone to pick up on the other end.

"Hello, this is the Haruno resident. Who is this?"

Recognizing his student, Iruka let out a sigh, "Hi, Sakura. This is Iruka-sensei. I was wondering if it would be possible for you to bring my cat back?"

As if hearing her master, on the other end of the telephone, a sudden barrage of meows was heard and Sakura cursed a little. "Are you sure, Iruka-sensei? You told me to keep her until Kakashi-sensei was full grown again." She hissed something out of the teacher's hearing and the meowing stopped.

"Yes, yes, I know I said that, but it seems Kakashi has grown old enough that he doesn't seem that scared of cats. So I would like it if Tootsie-chan could come back?"

"Sure. I'll bring her own in a couple of hours. We were just about to sit down and eat and…"

"Oh no, Sakura. Go ahead and eat. I still have to find my kimono for the festival."

The girl giggled and Iruka could just imagine her tossing her pink hair playfully, "Yeah. My mother said she wanted to see if she could find her old one for me to wear, since that was when the last festival happened."

"That would be very nice, Sakura."

"But it's so old! Oh! I really have to go now, Iruka-sensei. I'll be over with Tootsie-chan after I'm done. Bye!"

Before Iruka could say likewise, the line had gone dead and a dull tone was his only answer.

Staring at the phone for a second in his hand, he hung it up and turned around to stare at Pickles-chan, who was still sitting on the table looking at him. "I'll give you a can of food and then I'll check to see if my kimono is in the guest room." He said to the cat, laughing when the feline meowed and flopped onto the floor in anticipation.

Grabbing a can of food, the chunin quickly dumped it into the empty bowl and ran a hand own the cat's soft back. Throwing the can in the garbage, and rubbing his hands on his jeans, the chunin wandered into the hallway and into the guest room.

Where he was slammed by memories of Kakashi.

The bed was a rumpled mess, shoved around to form a little nest-shaped area, and half the sheets were hanging off the mattress. On the floor was a strange collection of bedding and blankets, most likely pulled in by the summoned canines that had decided to stay near their master. Sitting on the table next to the bed was a couple of nick-knacks, and as Iruka sat down his hand reached over to pick up the biggest item.

The simple kunai was nothing special, the tape around the handle was grimy and a little loose, but the weight was perfectly balanced. A couple of shards of the metal had been notched out, breaking up the weapons shine with darker, dull patches of gunmetal gray that seemed to be tinted a crimson red. Holding the item in his hand, Iruka stared blankly at it for a moment before letting his hand go limp, allowing it to slide out and thump softly on the carpeting.

"Kakashi is older now." He murmured, flexing his fingers, "Kakashi knows about Naruto and Sasuke and Sakura now. He has to be at least twenty seven years old." His mind spat another thought out, almost as a warning, "But does he know he had to take care of me as a mission? Watch over me when I was a child for a week?"

For some reason, the thought of Kakashi not remembering actually being linked to Iruka made a lump form in the tan man's throat. Kakashi, the copy nin who saw 'underneath the underneath', who might even know what Iruka was thinking of right now but would let the chunin figure it out for himself. The man whom everyone knew but nobody really _knew_.

"The man I may love…" Iruka whispered, taking in a shaky breath as he slumped over, resting his elbows on his knees. The confession wrestled from the depths of himself exhausted the chunin to a new point, his body feeling like lead and all he wanted to do was go to sleep for hours.

Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the door, before it was pushed open and the pounding of feet echoed down the hallway. Iruka stood up and moved to the door and was shocked at the streak of blonde that stopped in front of him, Sasuke following close behind, a grimace fixed on his features. Naruto paused, breathless as he leaned against the Uchiha with his blue eyes clouded with worry.

"Iruka-sensei, we need your help! Something happened to Kakashi-sensei!"

**GO.GO.GO.GO**

**Author's Notes**

Try to review, please?

It made me write this a lot faster.

:3


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

Sorry this took so long. Currently a junior in engineering. Don't haave too much extra time.

Hope you guys like this. Don't beat me if you don't.

Ouch.

.

It was a dark night. The wind blew towards the side, decreasing the temperature even further, forcing most of the inhabitants of Konoha deep inside their houses. Yet, on the empty street, someone dared to walk. A lone figure shuffled plaintively down the road, moving slowly but surely towards a predestined goal that only they knew of.

A very poetic beginning of the soon to be end.

"I'll let you hold my kunai."

Of course, all silences must be broken. Usually by a bad pun.

"Mah, mah, Iruka-sensei. I'm an assassin, so I'm certified to examine your ass."

The person walking almost lost their balance, barely missing falling to the ground after stepping onto a patch of dark ice.

"You could help me practice my aim." A deep laugh made its way up a clothed throat, tickling against a resisting ear, obviously talking about a different type of weapon to practice with.

Iruka groaned as the muscles in his back twitched at the heavy weight. He ignored the breath that panted against the back of his neck as Kakashi shifted his position. Instead, he simply concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other as he made his way slowly back home.

"Yo, yo."

The chunin paused to allow his lungs to fill with air and for his legs to relax momentarily. "What is it Kakashi?" He sighed and shifted from foot to foot, stretching the tendons that had been crushed from carrying the older man.

Another laugh. "Did you know I'm a master of over a thousand techniques? I could show you the more forbidden ones."

A slight pause.

"In bed."

This time Iruka couldn't hold back the frustrated grumble of curses as he walked up to his doorstep, kicking the door with a chakra infused leg to pop it open. A trick he had learned when carrying Naruto home was coming back to help him yet again. Hiking up the jounin on his back a little higher, he walked indoors, welcoming the wall of heat that slammed into his face.

"Oh, hello, Tootsie-chan" Iruka sighed, feeling like one of his lowly academy students as the orange cat glared at him from the small stoop. Grumbling, he turned and allowed the severely intoxicated jounin to slide down, choosing to ignore the grope to his ass a lapse in sanity on the other man's part.

"Those jeans look really becoming on you."

Iruka leaned against the door to close it while simultaneously yanking off his snow encrusted boots.

"But, then again, if I were on you, I'd be coming too." Kakashi's eye turned into an inverted 'u', the rest of his face hidden behind a newly revealed Icha Icha Paradise volume, watching at the chunin scoffed and stomped into the kitchen. The cat sitting next to him yawned before sneezing and scampering after her owner.

'_Of course Naruto would think something was wrong with Kakashi.'_ He ignored the thump of something falling over; assuming the man on the stoop was trying to take off his sandals. _'I don't think he was as horrible of a teacher to go drinking with twelve year old students.'_ Iruka groaned out loud then abruptly gasped when something warm brushed against his leg.

"Ah, Pickles! I forgot that you were still here. I thought once you saw Tootsie-chan-" Before he could finish, suddenly both cats were yowling from across the room, fluffed up to maximize their shape.

He was surrounded by idiots.

Iruka sighed again. It was just going to be one of those nights.

Popping open a can of food, and trying not to laugh when both felines stopped hissing at each other to twine around his legs, he dumped the can-shaped food onto a plate. Taking a step back, he quickly dropped the plate onto the ground and watched as it was devoured.

The chunin groaned and allowed his body to collapse in a chair pulled out from underneath the kitchen table. Stretching out his legs, flexing his toes, and letting out a groan of relief, Iruka felt his jaw crunch loudly as he yawned. He kept a close eye on both cats, knowing that Pickles, though having eaten earlier in the day, would attack the other feline and steal the extra food if given the chance.

"Oi, oi, Iruka-sensei!"

The chunin flinched and swung his head to the left, surprised to find the older man standing on his own two feet after dragging him to the house.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Just Kakashi~" The voice sang, the jounin striking a very Gai-esque pose before leaning against the wall. Gaining the ability to walk in a straight line obviously did not mean that a ninja was sober.

"Fine. What do you want Kakashi?"

The teacher felt a headache coming on. The type of headache he got usually after working with a class of five-year-olds who had just discovered that they could eat the glue sticks they used in arts and crafts sessions. The thought of Kakashi as one of those less than stellar children forced Iruka to pinch the bridge of his nose in hopes of lessening the building pressure.

Pulling out a chair and sprawling into it, 'Just-Kakashi' was grinning widely underneath his mask. "Nothing. Just wanted to know why you abandoned me in the front hall ever so coldly."

"I didn't abandon you."

"The cat paid more attention to me." Kakashi stated blandly, pushing off with his legs so he was suddenly balancing on the back two legs of the piece of furniture. A quick glance at the floor showed both animals still stuffing their faces, paying no attention to the stupid humans. "Mah, mah, Iruka-sensei. I don't think you are taking your job seriously."

A cold grip of dread settled over Iruka at the words. His heart beat faster as he thought of the deeper meaning to the simple phrase. _'My job? Does he know about the de-aging? Is he going to hold this too over my head?'_ Chewing at the inside of his cheek, Iruka stared blankly at the wall over Kakashi's left ear as he contemplated his fate.

Kakashi nodded before allowing a hand to come up and lightly massage the side of his head. "Well, obviously I've been forced by Tsunade to stay here." His grin returned as his hand stopped moving and slid down to grasp onto the top of his open jounin vest.

"Something must have happened on my last mission…Maybe I hit my head a little to hard? I most likely just got into a little more trouble than usual. That could explain why I can't seem to remember too much about the accident. Too bad nobody wants to fill me in. Not even Genma." Kakashi's chair made a loud thunk as it settled itself firmly back onto four legs.

Flinching at the loud sound, and at the off-hand way the other man was talking about being injured, Iruka slouched in his seat. The cats had bolted into the living room and were glaring at the jounin with the type of superiority that only feline's could manage. The silence thickened as Iruka refused to elaborate on the little 'hidden questions' Kakashi was dangling in the conversation.

"It's the only reason I would be here." Kakashi shrugged. "I mean, I wouldn't come here willingly. I had to have been forced by the hokage because of a medical reason."

There was a brief moment of silence as the ill-spoken words blanketed the room. A sour taste filled Iruka's mouth for a second before he lifted his eyes from his fisted hands, a hard glint forming in his eyes as he stared at the man who had to have been at the same age as him. An older Kakashi would have known better than to act like a total idiot around Iruka.

"Well, I'm sure you'll make a speedier recovery somewhere else."

A single gray eye widened in shock as the chunin slapped his hands onto the table to push his chair out, stumbling back a step, tan features seeming to tint red because of the rage he was feeling. "In fact, Kakashi-_san_, I think you should leave right now and find that place right now."

With the stressed honorific, and the crossed arms to hide his shaking hands, Iruka stared down the man who had slowly started to take over his life. He thought this obsession was because of a growing attraction, but instead it had turned into a tumor. A tumor that had to be cut swiftly out or it would take over his life and possibly kill him.

He ignored the way the other man tensed because he didn't understand. If Kakashi tried to 'look underneath the underneath', he would have found the answer. He looked away from the gloved hand that twitched as if it was going to reach for him. If Kakashi really wanted to touch him, he should have allowed his hand to move. He paid no attention to the Adam's apple that seemed to quiver for a moment before it stopped. If Kakashi had said something right then and there, everything would have been perfect.

Kakashi did nothing except swallow thickly and stand there.

"Go."

A few minutes passed, the teleportation smoke tendrils had evaporated into almost nothing and Iruka let out a subdued breath. Dropping onto one knee, he rubbed one of his hands roughly against the orange cat's face when she tiptoed out from the living room, staring blankly at the wall. He stood and allowed himself to fall gracelessly onto his sofa, the calico cat giving him a concerned look before lying across his lap for a scratch.

Iruka hated being the mature one sometimes.

**.**

Tsunade jolted in her chair from a late, evening, nap when a…thing was dropped onto her desk.

"What is this?"

"Art. Can I leave the village now?"

"Why is this on my desk?" A perfectly styled eyebrow began to tick.

"It's yours!"

"…Since when?"

"Since now." Jiraiya grinned and leaned back from the desk, "So I can I leave?"

"I don't want it!"

"Too bad. A civilian made it. They were thinking of you, the eternally beautiful Godaime! A proclamation of their devotion."

"Hello no! It looks like somebody sat on a lamp and tried to sell it." Tsunade's eyes flashed onto the pervert who was trying to escape by slowly creeping towards the window.

"Hey, hey, hey, you can't leave until this gets sorted out!" The woman stood and grabbed the older man by the arm, "You have to help!"

Jiraiya seemed to space out for a moment, of course Tsunade's breasts _were_ shoved against his arm, before quickly looking around the room. "You're sure that there is nobody here?" he said quietly, ninja skills going into high alert.

"Yes! YES! Now help me or I'm going to let all those women from the bathhouse know where their underwear went!"

For a moment, the pervert-sage's face turned as white as his hair before he quickly smoothed it over with a suave grin, rubbing his hand across his chin. "What we're going to have to do is get the two together!"

The blonde nodded and released the man, moving back behind her desk. After taking a sip from a sake cup, there were two but one had already been emptied, she reached into a drawer and pulled out a scroll. She sneakily checked into both directions, forgetting she was a ninja and could sense anyone within a mile radius as she unrolled the large strip of paper on her desk.

It was insanity. Madness. Only someone crazy would do something like this! The details on the scroll reaching the pinnacle of ludicrousness that would only be reached by those truly too far-gone to be helped!

Or it could be the efforts of an extremely bored woman who forced others to entertain her.

Both described the smirking Tsunade to the letter.

"This is my life's work!" She proudly declared, looking down at the scribbles and pictures of any and all ninja over fifteen. "I hope to have it complete before I leave my honorable station." Lines connected the photographs, different colors seeming to have an obtuse meaning only the woman understood, with only a few leading from person to person.

Except for Iruka. Almost every single picture on the "map" had a line leading to the academy teacher and instead of a bold line circling the grainy photo; they all seemed to just hit the edge of the picture.

Jiraiya stared at it uncomprehendingly for a moment before the horrible truth dawned on him. It couldn't be. She wouldn't. There was one time he had seen something similar and that was when he passed a kindergarten class in a different village. This sanin foolishly thought his teammate would be a little more mature.

"A dating chart?"

At the tone of his voice, Tsunade pulled the scroll protectively towards her large chest. "It's not dumb, so don't say it is!" She pouted but the expression was quickly wiped off her face as she gently smoothed out the paper on her desk again. "I want everyone in the village to be happy!"

"I'm not helping you with this."

"You've already been helping me." A pair of golden-brown eyes glared at Jiraiya. "You were my last choice but that obviously didn't work. That's why Kakashi is now up to bat."

"What?"

Tsunade smirked as she leaned back in her chair. "Remember last time you visited your regular haunt here? The one where you get your best inspiration? The all-exclusive hot spring where all the chunin go? Do you recall what you saw last time there?" Jiraiya shifted uneasily from foot to foot.

"Ah yes, in fact, didn't you use some of your fascinating observations in your last book? About the arousing, caramel-skinned beauty named _Ruka_?" She tapped on her bottom lip, "That name sounds so familiar. It's almost like you saw something you liked and instead of acting on it you WROTE A SMUT BOOK ABOUT IT!" Tsunade finished up yelling and slamming her hands on her desk.

"I thought you'd be mature about this and bang him, not write about him! How am I supposed to hook you two up if you don't get it done?"

Jiraiya stared at his teammate in shock and fear before settling himself down on the only chair in the room, tenting his fingers as a thought hit him. "What's this, Tsunade? Reading my books now?" A lecherous look took over his entire face. "I knew you were into that type of stuff." His eyebrows started wiggling now.

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about. Besides. We were talking about Iruka and Kakashi. You lost your chance!" Tsunade glared at her plans and crossed her arms as she began to pout.

Jiraiya mirrored her position only didn't pout. "I didn't know I was supposed to ruthlessly have my way with a male ninja. I thought that was something you were supposed to read in a certain type of novel written by certain types of women."

"This is ridiculous! I don't need to listen to this! If you're not going to stay, you might as well leave! I'll just make sure to tell everyone about your studying!" She shoved against her desk so that her chair spun out only to slam against the wall.

"Everyone else seemed fine with who I paired them off with! Look at Sasuke and Naruto! And Asuma and Kurenai. Sakura and Lee! I mean, I think I did a pretty fine job with those idiots, and they didn't even know I was helping out."

Jiraiya could only stare at the person deemed the most "powerful ninja in Konoha", wondering if all people in a position of power were as screwed up as she was. Maybe it was a genetic thing, which could explain the Uchiha. Worse comes to worse, it was always better to be on the good side of a crazy.

"You know what? I'll help. It means you won't be trying to set me up with another one of your employees." He heaved himself off the chair and stumbled over so he could sprawl along side Tsunade on her side of the desk, nudging her over slightly so they could share her one chair. After a moment of looking at the relationship map, and using his devious mind of an author, a spectacular plan to force the two ninja into a relationship was created.

"Don't tell anyone I spied on Iruka in a bathhouse."

Plans to start relationships and make sure secrets didn't get out.

"Don't tell anyone I read your books."

Many different types of secrets.

.

Iruka awoke with a sneeze, his head banging into the hardwood floor as he sat up suddenly. One half of his face was unpleasantly numb, his jaw felt strange, and he rubbed at it distractedly as he stared at the clothing scattered around him on the floor.

Tootsie, the only orange cat in the house, had decided that sleeping on the only black jacket Iruka owned was appropriate. Nearby, on the bed, the rest of the clothes pulled from the closet were in a huge pile.

"Ah, at least I found it." He grumbled to himself, standing up and shaking out his tingling legs. A glance to the left made sure that the tissue paper wrapped kimono was still safe from harm on the upper shelf.

Staring fondly at the ancient item, it had been a while since the last festival, Iruka felt yawn coming on. After experiencing the bone-crunching yawn that stressed his already weird-feeling jaw, the chunin decided it was time for him to actually go to sleep. Not just collapse on the floor and get his rest that way. Though he was sure he used to do it quite frequently during finals week before and after he became an academy teacher.

Students weren't the only ones who suffered through that hell week.

Going through the motions of gracefully shoving all the clothes to the floor, ignoring the cat yowling at him being buried in said clothes, and kicking some other garments out of his way, the chunin flopped down on the mattress with a sigh of relief. Shrugging out of his dust covered outfit, and finding it perfectly acceptable to just sleep in underwear for this one night, Iruka burrowed himself underneath the thick comforter that dominated his bed.

It felt like only seconds later that he was jerked from his rest with a sudden wakefulness, one moment asleep and the next fully awake with his eyes closed in his bed. Iruka felt himself tense all over, preparing for the onslaught that was sure to come. Too many years being a ninja and taking care of Naruto had taught him the harm of literally jumping out of bed once awake.

Waiting for the inevitable, the chunin stilled his body so that it appeared that he had only a fit of consciousness before falling back to sleep. Another talent he had picked up from taking care of the younger demon-fox vessel.

Shuffling was heard as the person shifted in the only chair not covered in clothing or various other items from the closet. For a moment Iruka thought they were going to wake him up, a tense silence forming before it was broken by one of the cats yawning and rolling over. That seemed to be the signal for the person to relax into the chair and wait.

His internal clock ticking, and wondering who the hell was stalking him this late at night, forced Iruka to make the decision to 'wake up'. Though he was sure the unknown watching him knew that he wasn't asleep the second they found their way into the house. Turning his head so it was faced in the general direction of the intruder, he allowed his eyes to open into slits.

Only to see a swirling Sharingan studying his curled up form.

The slouched body propped up in the chair was familiar to Iruka, the same one he had seen almost a week ago riffling through his groceries. Gray hair hung limply, darkened from falling snow that had saturated it, drying unevenly in the heated house and strands sticking to the damp skin presented to it. The light blue eye, not a darkened red swirl, was filled with an understanding that spoke too many words to be understood.

So the man sitting in the chair attempted to translate. "I remember. Everything."

Before Iruka could say anything in return, and with almost no noticeable movements, the jounin disappeared in the smoke of a transportation jutsu.

Swallowing in an attempt to get rid of the lump that formed, the younger man slumped back into his bed, ignoring the warmth that radiated from it. To him it all felt displaced, as if on a different world.

Kakashi remembered. He remembered the week. He remembered Iruka. He remembered what he had to do years ago. He remembered the chunin when he was little and the kiss…

Chewing on his lip and pulling the covers over his prone body, Iruka stewed for a way to answer the questions that bloomed in his mind. He would have to find the jounin. Find him and force him to explain everything he knew and what he thought he knew.

Tired brown eyes landed on the kimono resting innocently on the dresser.

He would get his answers tomorrow. He knew.

.

That's it.

Last chapter next, I think? May be posting a oneshot I have kicking around in my head after this.

Please review and let me know you still are reading, even though I kinda suck for taking on a major in college that doesn't let me slack.

D:


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer**

I do not own Naruto.

**Summary**

Life is hard for a chunin like Iruka. Grading tests, not killing students and sending ninja out on missions to their deaths. It's even harder when he has to take care of a jounin turned three year old chibi.

Sequel to Plastic Ponies.

**Author's Notes**

The end of the story. Finally!

Sorry it took so long. Please don't kill me.

Thanks for reviewing!

**.**

"This is stupid."

Iruka stared at his mussed-up bedroom, the heavy blanket pushed down to one end of the bed and an orange cat almost buried under the pillow. The clothes from yesterday were still heaped on the floor, dust bunnies shoved in a corner. Knickknacks were knocked over on the dresser, but some, like a picture of a younger Naruto proudly beaming at the camera, were placed almost reverently near the lamp and alarm clock.

"He's stupid."

Another feline scampered down the hallway at his voice. The calico twined her way around his legs, a halfhearted attempt at comforting the man, only to run and leap onto the bed to make her own sleeping nest.

"No."

He leaned against the doorway and glanced behind him into the living room, as if expecting a slouched form to be waiting for him there.

"…Maybe I'm the stupid one."

The brunet groaned and took a sip of his coffee, grimacing at the cold, congealed taste, and walked towards his dresser, skimming a hand over the tissue paper covered kimono. He contemplated the subtle wave pattern that meandered around the cuff of a sleeve, the dark navy blue near the edge that faded to a sky blue as it moved up the garment.

He moved his calloused fingers over the textured fabric, the chunin sighed and left the room to stumble into the kitchen. Rubbing his eyes, they felt itchy and irritable from an uneasy sleep; Iruka placed his cup on the counter. He contemplated cleaning the mug, since the rest of the clean dishes were waiting in the drying rack to be put away into cabinets, but instead of being responsible he decided that today he would be lazy.

It was the day of the festival, of course.

Outside, strong sunlight beamed down even though it was only a few minutes after dawn. This area was called fire-country for a reason. By the time the festival was fully underway, around noon, most of the snow that was the reason for the celebration in the first place would either be melted or a dingy brown hiding in shady corners. Of course, this wouldn't stop the shinobi and civilians alike from celebrating a festival that seemed to come only once a decade.

Brown eyes followed the path a cloud took as it spiraled up on heated currents, Iruka becoming lost in his thoughts and leaning on his kitchen table. Voices were heard outside as people wandered towards the center of the village. Blinking at the fact that he was being unnaturally lazy this morning, maybe it was because he had been getting less sleep than usual, Iruka stretched and stood up from leaning on the counter.

"I thought he would have at least come back to rub it in my face that I was an idiot." He mumbled to himself as he dragged his tired body back to his room. Both felines lifted their heads at his entrance but ignored him when he did nothing more than hurry to pull a rumpled t-shirt over his head and yank a pair of dust-covered jeans up. "Maybe I was looking into things too deeply.

"I can't take this anymore." Gathering his hair into a low ponytail, and grabbing a random tie off the table next to his bed, Iruka quickly fastened it to his hair and rushed to the front door. Slipping on a pair of sandals, he gave the doorknob a quick jiggle to make sure it had locked already slapping his hands into a few seals.

In a poof of smoke the chunin found himself transported to the bridge that Team 7 often met when they were younger. As per usual, Naruto was there, waiting as always, with his legs hanging off the side. His pale, striped, orange yukata bunched around his knees to allow his toes to dangle in water that was most likely freezing from the melted snow draining into it. At the sound of someone approaching, the blond swung his head around and grinned cheekily.

"Yo, Iruka-sensei! What are you doing out here this early? I wasn't expecting to see you until at least two!" Naruto leaned on his forearms that were braced against the bridges support beam. "Sasuke's supposed to come early, we were going to get breakfast and see some of the stands as they were setting up. Might get some free stuff if we help. I was wondering if you wanted to come with us to one of the performances later…" The Kyuubi-vessel paused in talking to frown at his old sensei. "Iruka-sensei! I don't think you're even listening!"

In response, Iruka continued to pace on the bridge and glance down the road in either direction as he turned. When the glare of Naruto bored into his head, signaling that maybe he had better at least pretend to listen, the brunet sighed and propped his body against the wood panel on the other side of the bridge. "I'm sorry, Naruto. It's just that things came up and I don't even know if I'm going to the festival today."

He continued over the protests of his favorite student, "Plus I think I had a fight with Kakashi last night, and I can't find him to apologize, and you know how I get." Iruka rubbed at his forehead in an attempt to fight the headache that was surely going to form in a couple minutes. "I was hoping he might show up here. Since I know this is where you all go whenever there is a festival or a village get together or a mission or…something."

Iruka watched in confusion as Naruto's mouth dropped open. He thought Kakashi might be behind him to warrant such a reaction, but when he turned to look all he saw was the hustle and bustle associated with a village-wide celebration. Before he could question what was wrong, because Naruto not talking loudly and obnoxiously was definitely wrong, the teenager suddenly regained his power of speech.

"Kakashi-sensei isn't here."

Iruka looked around again only to stare back at Naruto. "Well of course he's not here. If he was he'd probably be saying something rude to me."

"No. No. Kakashi-sensei won't be here." A pair of blue eyes stared solemnly at Iruka as Naruto pushed up from the ground to stand, his geta held in one hand as the other pulled at the hem of his kimono so it would fall down to his ankles.

"W-what?" A cold hand punched through Iruka's chest and tightened around his heart. "What are you trying to say?"

"Eh, I think he said he had to do something for Baa-chan? You know how she's always forgetting to tell people stuff. It was probably something to do with the festival that she needed him to get. That could be why he hasn't shown up here yet." Naruto shrugged, looking up at the sky in an attempt to remember anything else. "You can always check. I mean, she doesn't have to get to the festival until later. Had a ton of work to catch up.

"You can probably catch her. She usually runs away from Shizune after lunchti-"

Naruto stopped abruptly when he realized nobody was there to listen to him finish. A grimace crossed his features when he realized this, but it didn't stop him from beaming when he spotted Sasuke walking up the street with two squid on bamboo reeds. Delicious lunch food in Naruto's mind, even though it was only half past seven and technically it was still breakfast.

With a welcome peck on the cheek, and a smack on the back of the head for trying to turn it into a heated quickie, the blond grabbed the larger of the two grilled pieces and shoved it in his mouth.

Everything was perfect. Nothing could go wrong today.

**.**

"What do you mean he's not here?"

Tsunade looked up from the report held loosely in her hand, a pair of glasses she hated using because they made her feel old rested on her nose. Herr gold eyes barely glanced at the chunin, lowering back to the perusal of the report. "I mean he's not here in Konoha."

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, papers rustling to fill the silence and even they soon quieted. "The brat came in and asked for a mission. He looked desperate so I gave him what he asked for.

"Why he looked so miserable, I didn't ask." Her perfectly formed eyebrow rose. "Perhaps you can shed some light on it, Iruka-sensei?"

She took in the disheveled state of the man standing in front of her desk. The way he shifted from foot to foot while staring at a paperweight she had sitting on top of a couple reports and memos. The hokage tented her hands and rested her chin on them with a sigh.

"He wanted something that would take his mind of things." She ignored the gaze that suddenly focused on her from the academy teacher. "I've been having trouble with a couple loose ends so I sent him out. An A-level mission. You'll know soon enough since you're the one who will have to file the report."

She allowed Iruka to stew in his own thoughts for a second, clearing her throat to remind him that she was still there. When Iruka's eyes snagged on her figure and stayed there instead of wandering away, Tsunade frowned in response.

"Explain. You know more than what you're letting on, sensei."

A sigh from Iruka at the stare. "I-I don't know exactly what happened." He scratched idly at his ear, "I hate him. Well, I never actually hated him, that's a strong word, but now…after I've known what he had to go through…" The chunin sighed and picked at a thread unraveling on his sleeve.

"He's had such a hard time when he was younger. So much harder than most of the other shinobi our age. I want Kakashi-sensei…" He paused and chewed nervously on his lower lip, missing the gleam in Tsunade's eyes as she leaned forward in her chair, "I just want Kakashi-sensei to be happy." A gasp escaped from the woman, silenced only by a smile that stretched across her lips.

"I'm not trying to butt in, or control his life. But I think Kakashi-san should find someone. Someone who can watch after him." Iruka ignored Tsunade's squirming, it was distracting for any male over the age of seven, and continued with his thought process. "Kakashi-sensei needs someone else in his life."

The squeal coming from Tsunade was stopped by a blatantly fake cough. From Iruka.

The chunin paused after the interruption, waiting for the woman to control herself slightly. He swallowed thickly around a dry lump that lodged itself in his throat. Suddenly, a thought hit him prior to this week even starting, causing his eyes to narrow shrewdly in their perusal of the blonde who was sprawled over her desk waiting on baited breath for his next words.

"Tsunade-san. I thought Kakashi-sensei wasn't scheduled for any missions for the next month and a half on your orders."

She abruptly sat up straight.

"What would cause you to suddenly choose to send him out on a mission during a winter festival, especially when it states clearly in his files that he was not allowed to leave village boundaries for the minimum of forty-five days."

The thump of the hokage's chair as it fell back onto four legs was like a gunshot in the room. "Well. Isn't that interesting." Her fingernails tapped on her desk in irritation, then a pen was ruthlessly grabbed to scrawl a signature across a peace treaty for a village nearby. She cleared her throat and glared at the man in front of her, who had no idea what he did to suddenly piss-off the leader.

"Iruka. I know you don't want to hear this, but I really need you to leave. Hopefully Kakashi will come back in a few days. The mission he has been assigned on is vital to the wellbeing of the village of Konohagakure.

"Whatever happened between you two will have blown over by then." A warm wind wafted in from a window, bringing with it the cheers of children in the street below and the sticky scent of burnt sugar.

Iruka stood in the middle of the room not knowing what to do. With a huff, Tsunade pushed from her desk and grabbed a scroll, quickly scratching something on it only to roll it up when she finished. She paused as she drew even with the chunin.

"I said you were dismissed. I do not expect to see you, Iruka-sensei, until you have received Kakashi's report." With that she continued on her way out the door, ignoring the ANBU lurking outside her door trying to listen in on the conversation.

The door should have slammed to top off the horrible mood of the Godaime Hokage, but instead it closed with a gentle click. A pair of chocolate brown eyes stared mutely down at the wooden floors trying to find a gap in the boards.

Iruka had a small inkling of what just happened. When he mentioned Kakashi earlier in the conversation, Tsunade had seemed overly eager to hear what he was going to say, eager enough to almost vault across her desk. As if waiting on baited breath for the much younger man to start spouting love sonnets about a certain absent jounin.

It seemed as if everyone in the village was thinking of forcing Iruka together with Kakashi. First his old students, who thought he didn't notice the lingering glances and sadness when Kakashi was mentioned. Then the jounin who snickered and passed winks whenever both of them were near enough to talk. Finally, the last straw on the camel's back, the hokage's actions. Someone who should be working on important diplomatic issues, but instead was making a dating game scroll that involved everyone in the village and seemed to be currently staring himself.

Iruka rubbed at his forehead, smoothing out the lines that had formed there from worry, and stepped over to the large open window. Leaning on it and watching the various different people hurrying to celebrate, he pondered on what he exactly wanted from Kakashi.

Did he want to have a long-lasting and sappy relationship? The one Naruto, Sakura (Sasuke didn't count because he didn't think of things like this), and most of his students believed that he would have.

A fiery, passionate, and subsequently short romance was what most of the jounin were betting for. Hopefully one that would end with Kakashi doing something horrible and Iruka kicking his ass for the affront to his delicate person.

Iruka paused when he thought about Tsunade's "ideal relationship for Iruka-sensei". She didn't exactly make it known if she wanted Iruka to be the damsel in distress with Kakashi being his dark knight, or if she was simply happy to have the two of them just thrown together after all these years.

He rolled over these various thoughts for a few moments, as if savoring the different tastes or each idea prior to shoving them to the back of his mind. The brief pause allowed him to regain his bearings and realize that he was still standing in a deserted office, staring blankly at a wall, for almost five minutes.

As Iruka walked out the door, ignoring the ANBU who he was sure were smirking underneath their masks, he finally hit on what it was _he_ wanted as he left the building:

"I just want to be with him when he's happy." He whispered to himself as a small smile crossed his features, highlighted by sunlight flitting through the leaves of a tree.

**.**

The festival was everything the village could have hoped for. The snow that was the cause of the celebration had vanished once the crowds were released onto the various stalls and entertainments. Soon, everyone would have to return to work or training, but for now they enjoyed what was offered to them.

Young children ran back to their parents, holding goldfish trapped in plastic bags. Teenagers attempted to ditch their adult overseers and sneak off somewhere they could make out in relative peace. The adults held each other close or tightened bonds with neighbors while commenting on the impressive ice sculptures made from snow rescued from the hot temperatures.

All in all, it was a festival that everyone was sad to see draw to an end.

Taking a bite of shaved ice, Iruka nodded at Naruto as if he had been listening for the last fifteen minutes. Licking his lips, trying to savor the fleeting taste of watermelon and strawberry, the chunin relaxed against a tree and waited for the blond to notice his disinterest. Or for Sasuke to start punching Naruto into submission. Either one was bound to happen in the next couple of minutes.

"Ah, Iruka-sensei? You aren't mad we tagged along with you, are you?" Blue eyes looked over nervously. Naruto squinted from the setting sun and stumbled over to his old sensei, plopping on the damp ground and choosing to ignore the damage being done to his brightly colored kimono. "I mean, I know if Kakashi-sensei was here you probably would have wanted to go with him, eh?"

"Naruto, don't worry. Right now I just want to have fun with you." A tan hand patted down the sweat-soaked blond hair, ignoring Sasuke's glare, as Iruka quickly licked at the melting sugar water that was dripping onto his wrist. "Even if Kakashi-sensei were here, it wouldn't matter. He's an adult now. I don't need to worry about him anymore. He's not my problem."

At the stricken look of his student, Naruto had been sure that Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei had made up and were finally romantically involved, the brunet continued, "Besides. You know every festival I watch the fireworks with you." A contrite smile was forced as an apology for sounding out of sorts.

Everything was suddenly okay. Iruka had no clue what he was going to do when he saw Kakashi again, which according to the hokage could be anywhere from a couple days to months, but he knew when he saw the copy-nin that he would finally set things right. He would reveal everything he had learned when watching Kakashi and possibly propose something more.

If only given more time, maybe he could figure out a way to not sound like an idiot while doing so.

As the sun was swallowed by the night, the people of the festival nervously tittered and clustered closer. Although the fireworks were in the sky, a canvas big enough for everyone to see, individuals still shoved and pushed in an attempt to get closer to where the explosives were actually lit. Iruka found himself being moved with the crowd, losing sight of Naruto and Sasuke as they rambunctiously crammed themselves between others and forced a way to the 'good spots'.

Suddenly, the mixture of voices and noises quieted down. A girl sitting on her father's shoulders giggled at the silence but was quickly 'shushed' by a sibling. Then, all at once, the whistle of a launched rocket pierced the air.

Followed by a showering cascade of light.

After a few minutes, watching the fireworks simply for the sake of it, Iruka started the ritual that, to him, was as important as attempting to watch the fireworks with Naruto.

Slowly, his eyes dropped from the sky. They began their perusal of the people whose gazes were still aimed towards the heavens. This is what he liked to do. Watch the unguarded faces of everyone, including older, better trained, nin, as they absorbed the pure joy of a firework show.

A flash of blue colored light allowed Iruka another chance at seeing the upturned faces before they faded into the darkness. The bodies shifted together as they waited for more to come from the pyromaniacs hiding behind fire-resistant masks and clothing. They were not disappointed as a new round of explosions tore through the sky.

Iruka's eyes, instead of continuing their previous job of people watching, were instead captured by a lack of color at one spot. Everyone was watching fireworks, a nice end to a wonderful festival. It only made sense for some to try and find better spots to see when the crush of the surrounding villagers became too much. Some decided to perch on top of buildings, the academy being used extensively due to its fairly large roof. It seemed that only one lucky person, dressed in dark, had discovered that the hokage monuments made a perfect spot to watch the heavens.

Shrugging, the chunin teacher was about to begin looking for Naruto, when something about the solitary person drew his attention again. The slouched body looked vaguely familiar.

"Shoot."

The light from the fireworks faded as a new set was loaded, leaving the area in darkness again. A new burst of blue mixed with gold filled the air, and Iruka felt his lungs freeze and the breath stop halfway up his throat.

There was only one person with the skills to get on the monument with that shade of steel gray hair.

Iruka began walking in the direction of the monument. He had to see if it was Kakashi. And if it was, what was he doing in the village when he was just on a mission? Did the hokage lie to him?

Making up his mind to find out what was going on, and to finally get some answers, the chunin began his way out of the crowd. The brief decision seemed to be the signal for the person perched so high above everyone else. As soon as Iruka made his way past the crowd, moving as quickly as he could and receiving some elbows in the ribs for his efforts, the man above the monument had stood and was leaving.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" Iruka muttered to himself in a quick staccato, his hands already flying through the motions to get him where he needed to be. If luck was on his side, he'd be right in back of the person and be able to find out if it really was Kakashi or not.

Of course, luck was never on this hapless man's side.

With a grunt, and an incoherent curse from the other person, Iruka landed right on top of the mystery figure. What Iruka hadn't seen was the pause as the other man stopped walking and turned around to continue watching the fireworks. Or maybe they wanted to look down at the village to do a little people watching themselves.

"I am so sorry!" Iruka yelped as he pushed himself up with his hands, staring down at the prone body of Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei! Tsunade-sama said you were on a mission? That you weren't going to be back in a couple days at least."

The jounin rolled over, a grimace of pain causing him to squeeze his eye tightly before he looked up into the flustered face above him. "It went a little quicker than we both expected. Of course, I was going to hand in my report, if that was what you were worried about, Iruka-sensei."

"Just Iruka." Chocolate brown eyes looked down at the older man, quickly sitting up when the bang of the fireworks reminded him of where he was.

"Then I guess you could call me just Kakashi."

An awkward silence stretched between the two adults until a firecracker whistled through the air, exploding only a small distance away since they were so high. At the sound, Iruka stood up abruptly and brushed at his kimono to remove the dirt that had rubbed onto the fabric. When Kakashi didn't immediately follow, he held a hand out to the jounin.

Yanking him upwards, and into an unsteady standing position, the awkward silence returned. Kakashi gave a brief bow, obviously assuming that their meeting was over, and began to walk around the brunet to begin the long trek down the hokage monument. Iruka broke the quiet that had settled over the two of them.

"Why did you leave?"

The jounin smoothly transformed the flinch into a turn, in his customary slouch looking forced to Iruka. Cocking his head to the side, the single eye, glazed from exhaustion, attempted to lock onto the other man only to close in defeat. "Mah. Iruka. It's not called leaving if the other person doesn't care if they're gone."

"What happens if they realize what they wanted, but only after it was gone?"

Kakashi sighed and his stooped figure seemed to deflate. "What do you want from me, Iruka? I waited. I waited almost four years, and right now, when I seem to finally understand that you want nothing to do with me, you can't leave me alone.

"Why are you suddenly bringing this up? Is it because you know what happened? Is it because you saw me at my worse?" A bandaged and grimy hand yanked at the mask covering his face.

A sneer twisted the features of one of the top shinobi in the village, highlighted by one of the last fireworks going off. "Sensei. I didn't think you were so shallow."

In the darkness that followed, they stood at an impasse.

"K-kakashi. You know that-"

"I don't want to hear it."

It was the chunin's turn to flinch, already feeling the other's man look searing in his direction though Iruka was firmly looking at the ground. A few seconds passed between the two before they locked gazes again, Kakashi with a firm window blocking any reaction and Iruka's leaking out what he wanted to say but couldn't.

Kakashi sighed as he turned to leave again, leaving his mask hanging around his neck.

"Don't."

"Don't what, Iruka-sensei?"

"Just. Just shut up." The smaller man strode forward two paces, closer but with a large physical and mental distance still dividing the two. "I need to say this, and I don't need you pressuring me, or leaving me behind, or being an idiot because I didn't do this sooner."

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes and letting it out. "I know you might not believe me. Or you'll think I'm only doing this because I was forced to take care of you for the past week, but there is a reason why I'm up here and not down there with everyone else ignoring you. There's a reason why I didn't approach you four years ago, after I had aged back into my normal, dull, self.

"I knew all about it." He responded to the slight change of shock in the jounin's features. "Being in the mission center, surrounded by gossips, having to listen to it shoved down my throat. It was lucky that the whole debacle was kept quiet for a week."

The grin he shot at Kakashi was watery, at best. "But that isn't the point. The thing is, you're Hatake Kakashi. Known across the land as the copy-nin. Became a chunin then a jounin before I even had the thought of graduating from the academy.

"I'd be aiming above my station, and out of my class, if I even thought we could be together.

"But…I thought I would let you know that I did like you, Kakashi-san." The brunet smiled grimly, hands curling into fists next to his body. "I liked you and I'm sorry I didn't try and do something about it." He gave a low bow, pausing when he saw a pair of feet enter his vision.

"You liked me?"

Iruka stood straight and growled, "Yes. I liked you." He quickly looked over the jounin's shoulder. Last time he had seen Kakashi's face he was much younger, and not as close.

"Are you trying to say you don't like me anymore?"

"No. That's not what I'm tryi-"

The rest was cut off as a pair of chapped lips shoved against Iruka's own, easily stopping the rest of the phrase that was being belligerently muttered. Grunting at the sudden motion, and the fact that an older and more experienced jounin was attempting to shove his tongue down his throat, Iruka quickly pushed against slightly broader shoulders.

"What was that?" He gasped, unaware of what he looked like at the moment.

Kakashi laughed at the wide brown eyes that were reflecting the starlight, pulling the chunin closer to his body. "That was something I've been waiting very patiently for." He rubbed his nose against the other man's and smirked at the confused and terrified look that blossomed on the academy teacher's face after the affectionate action. "Mah, Iruka-sensei…"

"Iruka."

"Fine, fine. Iruka. Ru-ru. I like calling you sensei, though…" A little leer colored the snippet.

Iruka whimpered when he felt Kakashi's cold lips press against his forehead, from the drastic change in temperature compared to his flushed face, relaxing into the arms that had been tossed haphazardly over and around his shoulders. They eased into the position, becoming used to the contours of the others body, but then Iruka ran his hands up the man's back. He frowned, pulling away and glaring up at the unmasked man who he didn't know how to think of.

"You're hurt."

There was a glint of teeth as they bit down on a pink-hued lower lip. "Ah, it's nothing serious. Surface wounds. Most likely clotting already. I'll get them looked at tomorrow by the hokage."

The teacher frowned as he felt the stickiness of blood over his one hand, rubbing the fingers together and shooting a darker glare at the grinning man. "Kakashi, we really should get you to a hospital. This might be something serious."

"Mah, sensei."

The pale face broke into a full-fledged smile at the worrying, small crinkles forming at the corners of mismatched eyes and the scar bunching up on one cheek. One hand went up to grip at the back of Iruka's neck and the chunin felt a groan travel up his throat. Not a groan of lust. A groan of annoyance at the pair of puppy-dog eyes being sent his way.

"…Okay. Okay! Okay. Maybe this one time I'll let you get away with it." Iruka sighed, blushing as the taller man pulled him in closer for a transportation jutsu. The chunin allowed himself to be pulled even closer than usual, confused at his observation skills choosing that moment to note how Kakashi still had a tan line cutting across his face. Iruka even felt his mind kicking into overdrive at how he was going to try and explain this to Naruto without having the secret getting out to the whole village.

But in the end, the academy teacher decided to just go with the flow. It had caused him enough trouble in the past fighting against everything that might be good or bad in his life. He felt Kakashi's smile against his own as they kissed.

Everything was going to be all right.

**THE END**

**.**

That's it. Hope you had fun reading!

Review! Let me know I did a horrible job ending this story!

If you do it enough, I might post more stories in the future. Add onto oneshots that were supposed to remain oneshots.

No more plot! I want to write more sexy times, plz! O:


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